


A Change in the Song

by Lizard501



Series: Red Rocket Gang Adventures [1]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And is also very pissed, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Development, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Duncan comes to live with MacCready, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Issues, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Multi, Nuka-World Amusement Park (Fallout), Original Character(s), Other, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Past Violence, Rating May Change, Revenge, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Sole Survivor is Having None of Father's Bullshit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:00:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 45,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24762733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizard501/pseuds/Lizard501
Summary: Erik Valentine hadn't had a good life before the bombs dropped aside from the little time he had with Nora and their newborn Shaun.But finding Shaun after months of searching, preparing to have a place to raise him with people he had begun to call friends, was a harsher kick in the gut then the explosion that had nearly took off his arm. Adding onto that, what Shaun shows him adds an even harsher kick, but one that Erik was determined to save.He might not have been able to save his son, but Erik would be damned if he wasn't going to save her or any of his allies.He'd rather see the world burn once more than lose everything again.
Relationships: Male Sole Survivor/Sole Survivor's Spouse, Paladin Danse (Fallout)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Red Rocket Gang Adventures [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030059
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

Erik Valentine was many things. A former soldier with almost half of his face lost in burns and scars, a vengeful widower who killed his wife’s murderer, a determined father who had been in search of his son, the General of the Minutemen who had made sure to have all of the prepopulated settlements on his side before taking the Castle, a very vocal Knight in the Brotherhood, the deadly Bullseye in the Railroad, and so on and so forth.

But one thing he wasn’t often was ‘easily shocked’.

“...What?” 

Shaun, the  _ real _ Shaun, tried his best to keep his tone constant, already failing to hide his frown as he watched his own father’s reaction. Erik couldn’t help the glare he was giving his son, thinking on how for all the string-pulling he had done, the elderly man shouldn’t have been surprised that this meeting wasn’t going according to  _ his _ plan. The Director of the Institute had barely been able to talk the fighter into putting down his gun when he had first entered the room. 

“I quite understand how this could be shocking to you, but I assure you, it was-” he began, only to be interrupted. 

“What do you mean she’s ‘technically’ my granddaughter, Shaun?” Erik snarled, the nails in one of his clenched fists starting to dig into his palm as he stared at the young woman on the other side of the window, unaware of her observers. “Either she  _ is _ or she  _ isn’t _ . And who, may I ask, is or was my daughter-in-law that I’ve yet to meet or know about too?” Shaun held his hands up in an effort to keep the dark-haired man’s already boiling temper at bay. 

“There was no mother. Her designation is S0-N6,” he explained. 

“So a synth.” Erik’s nostrils flared. 

“A synth purposefully made to have half of my own DNA,” Shaun continued on. “If a DNA test was conducted, it would show her being related to me. No other synth created here in the Institute has that.” He was stared down at with that one cold blue eye, the other covered by an eyepatch, but Shaun merely clenched his jaw in response. “We wanted to test out how much of one’s DNA could be replicated in a synth. It’s a very…-” He paused for a moment, thinking of how to properly word the experiment. He could already feel himself being on thin ice already. “-ill-advised but curious question made by the other scientists of the time. As it turns out, the highest amount is roughly rounded to about fifty percent of the original person’s DNA.” 

“‘Roughly?’”

“To be exact, the amount was actually forty-nine point six three, so yes ‘roughly.’” 

Erik stared at him for a long time with his good eye before slowly turning back to stare at the synth sitting on her bed, reading a book. Judging by the movement of his jaw, Shaun had to guess that his father was grinding his teeth.

“I want to meet her face to face.”

Shaun blinked before seemingly getting a hold of himself and clearing his throat. “I don’t believe that would be-” 

“No, you listen here Shaun!” Erik turned viciously towards the older-looking man, his one good eye glaring intensely. “I spent  _ months _ looking for you, trying to make a decent place for you to live with me, thinking you were first still a baby, then ten years old because you thought it’d help me get closer to some form of revenge! And I arrive here to find out not only that, but also the ten-year-old I was looking for was actually a synth made to lure me and that my baby boy is now  _ sixty-years-old _ , I missed his entire childhood, he’s half the reason for generation three synths, AND that one of those synths was made for some experiment and is my grandchild! And I’ll be  **_damned_ ** if I’m not some part of my grandchild’s life, synth or not!” 

Shaun once more had his hands up, a part of Erik’s mind hoping that he knew where his miscalculation had been.

“I understand you’ve gone through a lot these past few months, but please, you must remain calm-” he was barely able to finish his sentence before Erik spun around and marched away through the hallways. Shaun cursed under his breath as he hurried after his father. 

Erik, in his search for the door to the room, was also trying to ignore the constant rage and betrayal running through his veins. The longer he looked at Shaun, the more it seemed to build up in him as he thought about his own son’s words about  _ everything _ . Nora’s death, the use of him getting rid of Kellog, the use of a synth to give him  _ hope _ , and now a grandchild that was a result of an experiment. It made him almost ill to look at the man that claimed to be his son, to attribute the various similarities Shaun had to himself and Nora. 

He closed his eyes, placing a hand on the wall as he already tried to erased Shaun’s image. Instead, he just got an even clearer idea of which of his features came from who. He took in a shaky breath, gritting his teeth as he thought of how Shaun had blue eyes just like himself and Nora, Nora’s brows, freckles, unattached earlobes, and dimples, his jawline, and chin. The synth Shaun had black hair, surely if the actual Shaun was to be believed about him designing the child after his own younger self, Shaun had inherited his hair color. He opened his eyes again, punching the wall next to him in frustration. He didn’t want to attribute any of Nora’s looks with a son who just saw her death as ‘collateral damage!’ He struggled to steady his breathing, pausing long enough to let Shaun finally catch up to him, the former vault dweller finding himself in front of the very door he was looking for. He straightened his shoulders, knocking on the metal doors as he did his best to keep looking forward instead of giving a side glare at Shaun. 

“Come in!” 

Shaun entered first before Erik, keep his face stern as he cleared his throat once more. 

“Oh, Father!” she instantly jumped up at attention, standing straight up with her shoulders back. Erik felt himself inhale sharply as he finally got a much clearer look at S0-N6. 

The first thing that he could notice was her red hair. Combined with her blue eyes and freckles, she held a great resemblance to Nora. He found himself wondering if she had dimples as well, or unattached earlobes that were hidden behind her messy, almost shoulder-length hair. Then he realized that her left eye had a decent sized scar. He frowned, wondering what could have happened in the Institute to have caused it. He barely snapped out of his observation when Shaun was done introducing him, S0-N6 looking on at him with bright eyes. 

“Oh, you’re the father of Father?! Oh, it’s wonderful to meet you! Wait, do I call you Father’s father? Or Double Father? What, what do I call you?” He found himself chuckling at her questioning, stepping forward as he held out one of his hands. 

“You can call me Grandpa, dearie,” he said softly, ignoring Shaun’s stare. Instead, he focused on the brief flash of confusion followed by the sheer amount of giddiness that seemed to fill the red-head. 

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Grandpa!” 

“What was the book you were reading, poppet?” 

S0-N6 blinked, her smile vanishing as her brows furrowed up. “Poppet?” she asked. 

“It’s a term of endearment. You are my granddaughter after all,” he explained, giving a quick glare over to Shaun for the longest two seconds of his life before snapping his gaze back to S0-N6. 

“Poppet…” she repeated quietly as if registering the word before giving a lopsided smile, allowing Erik to see that she did indeed have dimples. “I like it!” 

Shaun cleared his throat, frowning heavily. This caused a reaction from S0-N6, the girl instantly standing straight once more and hiding her hands behind her. 

“Well, I do have other duties to attend so unless you rather have the tour of the Institute later, father,-” 

“ _ Shaun _ , I’m perfectly fine with a tour later. I see no problem with getting to know my grandchild while you deal with your business.” 

Shaun found himself once more under the fierce gaze of that one blue eye, the Director frowning even more as he gave a sharp nod and left the room. Erik let out a sharp exhale before looking back at S0-N6, the synth’s shoulders tense as she stared back at him. He did his best to try and give a comforting smile, the gesture almost foreign to him after talking to Shaun.

“Now, about that book-”

~~**\----------** ~~

Erik Valentine had not had a pleasant life before the bombs dropped.

Even before he had joined the US army, he already had scars and a broken nose from constant fights in the poor neighborhood he had grown up in. Riots were often, and with three younger siblings plus a recently divorced mother, Erik found himself forced to grow up fast. 

His time in the 2nd Battalion left him half-blind and almost half of his face and body burned from some sort of explosion. How he hadn’t been discharged and instead given time off to recover was almost disgusting as much as it showed the desperation the army was facing. During his ‘recovery,’ he’d been anything but quiet. Erik made sure to be vocal about his opinions, joined in on protests, and had been taken into custody more times than he cared to admit or even remember. 

Which had led him to meet Nora. 

Nora had almost been impressed as she reviewed both the case she had been given and his past records that she had dug up. The silence that had existed between them as he waited for her to be done reading was odd to describe. He had his arms crossed across his chest, staring at the redhead, while she would every now and then glance back up at him with those clear blue eyes. 

He’d never stop being impressed by how she just took his case, defended him, and won. She never left his mind during the days after the case and before he finally asked her for a coffee date. 

Up to that point, meeting her had been the best damn thing to have ever happened to him, in his opinion. When his ‘recovery’ was over and he’d been deployed again, he kept in touch with her. Letters from her detailing how life was back home never stopped putting a smile on his face. 

Then the explosion that nearly blew his arm off happened. The army couldn’t make any good enough excuses to keep him when the damage was fully realized and discharged him. Having Nora helping him once he was back in the States was almost a blessing to him. Her being there had meant everything to him. 

Her pregnancy had meant even more to him than he could put into words, so instead, he had scooped her up and swung her around tightly in his arms when he was given the news. Holding Shaun when he was finally born had given him one of the greatest feelings in his life by that point, to hold such a small infant that was his and Nora’s in his arms. 

They got Codsworth, a new home. Their dog had ran away before Shaun’s first Halloween, but Nora still held onto the hope of finding her. He was prepared to give Nora and Shaun the best life he could give them, determined to make it better than the one he had been born into. 

Then the bomb dropped. The events of Vault 111.  _ Nora’s death and Shaun’s kidnapping _ . 

He had stayed kneeling on the floor, holding his wife’s corpse in his arms as he let out ugly sobs that echoed through the empty halls of the small vault. Caressing her head, he could barely see her through his tears. He didn’t know how long he had stayed there, mourning and sobbing before he gritted his teeth, the hand he was using to hold onto one of hers clenching over it as he said those fateful words in an almost feral growl. 

“ _ I’ll find who did this, And I'll get Shaun back. I promise. _ "


	2. Chapter 2

When Codsworth’s programming was turned on, the first thing he thought was how odd his new master and mistress looked together. 

Miss Nora seemed to be an ideal outstanding lady of the time. Wavy rich red hair, sparkling blue doe-eyes, and a splatter of freckles across her plump cheeks, Codsworth felt honored to serve her as a Mister Handy, especially with her reassuring compliments and thanks for when he made his rounds in the house. 

Mister Erik, on the other hand, appeared to be what he was programmed to understand as a ‘ruffian.’ Dark hair, tanned skin, an eyepatch hiding the eye on the left side of his face that was covered in severe burns, he quite stereotypically looked like trouble. But working for Mister Erik proved to be just as rewarding with time. Long talks when the master couldn’t sleep at night, usually with the television set to a low volume were a common thing between them. 

Codsworth found himself gleeful to be considered part of the household between the Valentines and the birth of Shaun. 

Then the bombs came and two hundred years later, Mister Erik came back from the vault with the news of Miss Nora’s death and young Shaun’s kidnapping. 

It had been hard enough to go through two hundred years without anyone to talk to, constantly trying to keep a ruined house and rusted car clean with no success in sight, but to see such a change in his master’s expression and attitude… 

He wondered if finding young Shaun had been the only thing that had been keeping Mister Erik together at the beginning of this new way of life. Watching his master eventually make friends throughout their quest and many of them setting up their ‘home away from home’ together at the nearby Red Rocket station made him much more at ease, despite his cleaning servos going haywire at the mess the surrounding world was. 

Surely with all of these new friends, they would find young Shaun!

~~**\----------------** ~~

Codsworth had the honor to be the first to alert everyone of Erik’s return. Granted, he had only seen the flash in Sanctuary before he loudly woke the rest of the other companions up, but he took in pride that he was leading the charge to greet his master back, eager to see the young Shaun once more, some sense of before the war once more in his robotic life. 

Instead, the Mister Handy found himself also surprised by the other person with Erik. 

“Mu- Mum?” 

The hairstyle was far more different, but the young lady looked so much like Miss Nora… Codsworth’s eyes focused on her more, realizing his mistake. No, she seemed younger than Miss Nora had been before the family had gone to the vault, and taller. Miss Nora had been at eye level with Codsworth in heels without much effort for the robot to hover above the ground, but this woman with her flat-footed shoes as taller than his normal eye level. This new woman gave a very confused smile, lopsided to one side like how his former mistress’s even wide ones, as her brows furrowed up. 

“Um… Hi? I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else, I… I don’t have any children?” she had said. Codsworth could have placed bets on his own gears stopping as the voice registered as so different. 

“Everyone!” Erik yelled out, Codsworth’s gear kicking into gear as he tried to hover back into place with his three eyes high. “This is Song, Shaun’s daughter.” Codsworth felt himself hover higher than normal, the lens for his eyes widening at the information. 

“Hi!” Song called out, this giving a smile that now seemed very unsure and shy at the crowd of people that surrounded. 

“We’re all also having a small meeting back in the Rocket about this.” Codsworth blinked as Mister Erik’s words took on a lower tone, more directed with the rest of the companions that had come. 

“Well, I must say, while I never expected this, it’s so good to meet you, Miss Song! I'm Codsworth, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The young woman took a step back as Codsworth hovered nearer, his tone chipper. Song stared at him back, those bright blue eyes staring at him for mere seconds before she once more gave a smile, much wider this time. 

“Oh, so you’re Codsworth! It’s great to meet you too! Grandpa told me all about you!” 

He could almost feel the smile Erik gave them both before his master headed to round up the others who were asking all sorts of questions already, no doubt that Mister Erik was going to tell them to wait until they were all back at the Red Rocket. 

“Well, if you do pardon me, I must say you look a great deal like your grandmother. Oh if only she were here to see you. I’m sure Miss Nora would have adored you!” While speaking, the robot finally took notice of the scar that went over her eye. “Oh my, what happened to your eye, if I may ask?” 

Almost instantly, Song’s shoulders tensed up, her only reply with “I tripped while working on a project,” in such a way, it sounded forced and rehearsed to Codsworth’s non-existent ears. Before he could address it, however, she immediately tried to change the topic. “Speaking of projects, Grandpa mentioned that there were workbenches for tinkering, would you happen to know where any of those are?” It was such a shift to Codsworth it took him a few to catch up to her eager gaze. 

“Oh, uh, yes, right this way, Miss!” he answered as he hovered towards the area the settlers had left for the workbenches. “Quite the tinkerer like Mister Erik, I take it?” 

“Oh yes! I like to keep my hands busy, but the Institute has this whole schedule to make sure all the machines are working fine and get upset if you try to play around with any of them, it’s kind of frustrating. There’s also not a lot of scraps to work with,” Song replied, her tone reminding Codsworth whenever Piper ranted about trying to get someone to interview for the Publick Occurrences. As they approached the around, he heard Song gasp loudly, his eyes looking back at her to see her bouncing in place, giddy. 

He wasn’t sure what she was hiding, but Codsworth knew one thing for sure…

He would be more than happy to make sure she was as happy as can be. 


	3. Chapter 3

“You lose your owner, buddy?” 

The man in blue might have been gritty looking, but Dogmeat hadn’t much cared as he had been petted and fed a few raw pieces of radroach meat. All he cared about was that this man was nice, had a gun, and could help his other people. So he led him to the big building and the rest seemed to be history. 

He gained more friends through this man, although the weird-smelling woman with messy hair didn’t seem too fond of him. The family the man in blue grew with all of these friends, some coming and going with their own lives like the man in metal or the woman in the red coat, others stayed at the building they all made their homes around called ‘the Rocket.’ The bearded man who kept trying to not curse brought in a young boy that Dogmeat was more than happy to hang around, and sometimes the woman in the red coat would bring the young girl every now and then. 

Of course, Dogmeat added his own weight to this growing family when the man in blue brought a female dog to the Rocket that everyone called Daisy. Dogmeat found his time torn between adventuring with the man in blue, following the human pups around the place, or playing with his and Daisy’s ten puppies. Needless to say, Dogmeat was a busy dog. 

~~**\--------------** ~~

“Aw, look at all of you!” 

Dogmeat sat down near the two dog houses the canine family had at the Rocket, the rest of the humanoids heading inside for their meeting while what seemed to be the newest member stopped by to see all of the puppies. He watched carefully as she picked up one of them, laughing gleefully as the young dog licked her face. 

“Oh, aren’t you just adorable!”

Dogmeat barked as the rest of the puppies swarmed the freckled woman, Daisy walking over to sniff her as she landed back onto the ground laughing. The male dog walked over to before turning his head over to the Rocket, his ears perked up before deciding to walk into the meeting. It wasn’t often that his people would have a long conversation about another human. The last time was with the large green man months ago, in fact. He nosed his way into the main kitchen inside, sitting down just next to the counter as he listened to his humans talk. 

“Gotta hand it to you, Bullseye, this one really takes the cake of all the things you’ve done!” 

“Gee, that gives me so much confidence, Deacon. Will the Railroad help?” 

“Hmm, let’s see,” the man in the dark glasses pretended to think for a moment. “Usually the operation comes with a face change and memory wipe, but we can just do the simple tracking disabling operation. Problem is just location, you know, for security.” 

“Whoa, whoa, hold the bloody hell!” the messy-haired woman yelled out. Dogmeat huffed in slight annoyance. She could be nice sometimes, but she was loud. “Are we just going to let her stay here then? She’s right from the damn Institute!” 

“Exactly,” the man in blue said. Dogmeat tilted his head, trying to understand what any of his people’s thought process with this was. “Song’s more than willing to give information about what the Institute is like and if what she’s told me is anything to go by, she’s not blind to their misdealings. Compared to what anyone was thinking when going in there, that’s more than any of us thought.” Dogmeat stood and up moved to under the table, whining as he nudged the man in blue’s hand as he felt him beginning to stress. “I’m planning on taking her with me on some errands anyway so that when the operation takes place, the Institute won’t just come straight here. And if anyone else here has a problem with me trying to get my granddaughter out of the damn Institute, you better say something now!” Dogmeat whined again, now backing away a bit. 

“Whoa, whoa, cool down there partner, no one’s blaming you,” the wrinkly man chimed in, holding a hand up. 

“By all means, considering what you managed to do to even get into the Institute, we should be congratulating you,” the metal man in the trench coat pointed out. “You planning on telling the Paladin about any of this?” Dogmeat tilted his head as he looked around, the man in the metal suit not being in the crowd. “I don’t imagine Danse being the type to take the fact that a Knight under him is trying to save a synth, regardless of the relation.” 

“I’ll talk to him, the rest of the squad too.” 

“Is that truly wise, Monsieur Erik?” Dogmeat looked towards the woman in the white lab coat, his canine brain still trying to wrap around the idea that she once was a round metal thing like the other one that talked just as funny. “Paladin Danse, he eez… likely to listen, but other members of the Brotherhood?” 

“Scribe Haylen might be able to help me with something on this and keeping Rhys out seems cruel, all things considering,” the man in blue grimaced. 

“In the meantime, I need to make sure I play friendly with the Institute until we’re all ready to strike.” 


	4. Chapter 4

“Well, that could have gone better.” 

Preston looked over to the general, panting while Erik lightly kicked the remains of the mirelurk queen as if he wasn’t covered in grime and guts. 

“Guess we know what the monster those years before was now,” the scarred man added on as he turned to look at the remaining Minutemen. Preston couldn’t help but shake his head at the poor attempt at some humor. “Alright, everyone, let’s get to work on setting this place back up!” 

In hindsight, it was a good thing that Erik had wanted to get the rest of the preoccupied settlements on their side before taking the Castle. If the regular mirelurks weren’t enough, the queen definitely took everyone off guard. Then again, being taken off guard yet still winning the fight had seemed to be a pattern with Erik Valentine. Preston could still easily recall first meeting the man in Concord and being taken aback by his appearance. A Vault dweller with a blind eye and half of his face burned off? Not really a normal combination to find in the Wastelands. The fact he was Pre-war was just icing on the topping of that whole confusion. 

Cleaning up the Castle and getting everyone suited proved to be a week’s work at least, with still more work to do, so nighttime provided talked around a makeshift campfire of the Minutemen talking and sharing stories as mirelurk meat cooked. During this time, Preston observed how familiar the general seemed with it for a man who was no longer in his own time. Or he did at least whenever his gaze wasn’t focused on the burns on his face. 

“Hey, General?” he asked, poking at the roasting mirelurk they were having for the third time in a row. 

“For the love of shit, Preston, just call me Erik. Ranks were always an annoyance to me.” 

“Sorry. Anyways, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you get those burns before the bombs dropped?” He felt Erik shift next to him, hearing the taller man laugh as the others around the campfire perked up and leaned in to listen. 

“None of you have read Piper’s paper lately, have you?” 

“Haven’t had much of a chance to,” Preston replied, looking over to see Erik having had rolled onto his side. “Besides, not everyone in the commonwealth can read either, so…” 

“How’d you get them burns?” one of the others piped up, a shorter blonde man with bright green eyes. Erik huffed and shook his head. 

“Was in the army during the Sino-American War. Sniper got a lucky hit on a tank while it was being refueled. I was the lucky one to come out of that pile of hell.” 

“Dang,” was all Preston could find himself to say. 

“And before any of you ask about my arm, that was a mine explosion. Shrapnel hurt like hell.” 

“What about the scars?” the blonde from before asked. Before Erik could say anything, Preston managed to pipe up. 

“I can answer that one. He got that from the Deathclaw back in Concord, the helmet to the power armor we found got ripped off.” 

“Good thing that eye was already blind,” Erik chuckled, ignoring the pointed look Preston was giving him. 

“Is that what broke your nose too?” this time a woman with dark short hair asked. 

“Oh hell no, that was from my childhood. Riots were a constant thing in the poorer neighborhoods.” 

Preston shook his head, once more picking up the makeshift poker they had to tend to the mirelurk. The entire night became a talk of scars, moving on from Erik to the others. Preston himself let his mind wander to the scar on his own cheek, earned from a raider who managed to get close enough as the atmosphere seemed thick of comradery. 

~~**\----------** ~~

Preston was reminded of that night as he watched the Rocket’s newest resident talk to Curie while cleaning his musket. Song’s eye scar was the most noticeable of her scars, but he seemed to be the only one to notice to smaller faint ones on her hands. He’d been around Sturges enough to know the hands of a tinker when he saw them and Song’s fit to a T. He continued watching until he felt a tap on his shoulder, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. 

“If I didn’t already know Curie wasn’t your type, I’d warn you to stay clear of Cait. And I can’t exactly tell you to stay away from Erik since he’s your boss…” Hancock smirked as Preston shook his head. “You keep staring at those two like they’re going to bite someone, Preston.” 

“Don’t mean too. Trying to figure out where to really stand with her,” he answered, looking down to continue cleaning his gun. 

“Really, trying to play Deacon’s role?” the ghoul chuckled. “Alright, Minuteman, what you got so far?” 

“She’s a tinker.” Preston looked up to see one of Hancock’s nonexistent brows raised towards him. “She has faint scars on her hands, like Sturges. Probably should get some gloves if she’s going to keep working at the workbenches.” He stared back at the red-wearing mayor. “What about you, Hancock? Surely you’ve noticed something about her too.” 

Silence existed between them as the latter looked away, his dark eyes on the redhead still wearing the Institute uniform before answering. 

“Revenge.” Preston blinked before scrunching his brows up in confusion. 

“What?” 

“Reason why she’s willing to help us. The girl wants revenge.” The Minuteman frowned setting his musket aside and crossing his arms. 

“What makes you say that?” 

“Because you don’t get a scar like that from an ‘accident.’” 

He stared at the ghoul before slowly looking over to Curie and Song, the former Miss Nanny writing something down on a chart as the latter watched her. 


	5. Chapter 5

“If you’re calling me ‘Blue’ because of my eye color, you have a worse case of finding nicknames for people than I do. The name’s Erik.” 

Piper couldn’t help but laugh. The vault dweller she met outside the city’s gate was anything but usual, with a worn dark jacket with a sleeve missing over his vault suit, an eyepatch, and a half-burnt face. There was still a feeling that he was out of his element she picked up on, but she could tell straight away that he was at least adaptable. 

“No, it’s because you’re a Vault Dweller. I know you're not wearing the blue jumpsuit right now, but the Pip-Boy and that "fish out of water" look? Dead giveaways” had been her response as she had taken a seat on the couch nearby, him following her and pulling out a cigar. “So here's the deal. I want an interview. Your life story in print. I think it's time Diamond City had a little outside perspective on the Commonwealth. You do that, and... I'll tell you what. I'll come with you. Watch your back while you get used to the world above ground.” 

His questionable glance towards her almost took her aback as much as his words following. “You sure you’d want to watch my back? I didn’t get the claw marks from a puppy, Red.” Before she could retort, he raised a hand up. “I'm in, Piper.” 

“Good. Let's get down to business. So, I know you're from a Vault. How would you describe your time on the inside?” She asked, grabbing her notepad and pen from the nearby coffee table in front of them. 

“My family and I were frozen. I didn't spend much time in the Vault.” Her eyes widened, almost dropping her pen as her head snapped to look at him. He didn’t pay much attention to her reaction, instead opting to light his cigar and slowly taking in the nicotine. 

“Wait. They boxed you up in a fridge? The whole time? Are you saying you were alive before the War?”

“Yes, I suppose I’ll be turning two hundred and forty-two given that it’s been two hundred and ten years since I was first frozen.” 

Two hundred and-!? “Oh my god. ‘The Man Out of Time,’" she let out, getting back to writing down her notes with a breathless laugh. This was better than she had thought for an interview. “So tell me. The world back then. What was it like?”

“Which part of it?” was his answer as he looked back over to her. 

“What do you mean?” 

“If you were poor, you were more exposed to the riots and problems of the time. Fights, brawls, police brutality, everything going to hell around you and no one doing anything about it. If you were rich, you got to ignore most of it, thinking you’re safe and kidding yourself. Somewhere in the middle… almost like it could never touch you.” She kept on writing, but didn’t miss the tired and worn look in his eye. It easily reminded her of some of the Diamond City guards after dealing with Super Mutants, or Nick whenever a case really got to him. 

“What did you do back then?” she asked, softly as she would in those situations. 

“I was a soldier.” 

“You fought in the War?” She could almost hear a pin drop. “What happened? What was it all about?” 

“Protecting a way of life, though it could be debated about who was protecting and who was attacking. Resources too. Not enough fuel for the way people were living, too many people for a nation to feed, not enough money for everyone as the people on top kept more and more of it to themselves..” 

“Huh, I guess not much has changed then, huh?” she mused. “Might as well ask though, right? You've seen the Commonwealth. Diamond City. How does it compare to your old life?” 

“Actually gives me a bit of hope. You’re all more honest than half of the pre-war world.” Piper felt the edge of her mouth turn up in a smile. It was an odd feeling, being proud yet sad that her world was apparently ‘more honest’ than the one that landed them here. 

“That’s surprisingly inspiring, Blue. Definitely quoting that one.” The more she thought about it and what he had said prior, the more tragic it seemed, and far more questions popped up in her mind. “Now, I already know you're looking for your son. Shaun. Do you suspect that The Institute was involved in his kidnapping?” 

“The synth making people?” he huffed, taking in a deep breath. “Honestly, after what I’ve seen out there, they mostly fit the bill.” 

“Not even a baby is safe from them. And people wonder why I can't just look the other way... For the last part of our interview, I'd like to do something different. I want you to make a statement to Diamond City directly. The threat of kidnapping is all but ignored in the Commonwealth. Everyone wants to pretend it doesn't happen. What would you say to someone out there who'd lost a loved one, but might be too scared, or too numb to the world, to look for them?” She watched him seem to think carefully on the question, his gaze distant and not quite in the present. 

“You can only take it one day at a time. Just keep going. That's all anyone can do, Red.”

She gave a soft sigh and smiled. “We're all just doing what we have to, huh? I think my readers can relate to that. That's everything. It's going to take some time to put this all together, but I think your story is going to give Diamond City plenty to talk about. Anyway, I agreed to come with you, right? Watch your back? Just say the word when you're ready. I can't wait to see where this story goes next.”

~~**\------** ~~

Well, if anyone said this was where the story had been heading next, she would have thought they were pulling her leg. 

She was back in Diamond City, back on that same couch for a new interview. Erik had offered to take a look at their printer after Nat had complained about it stalling again. With him, came Song in a blue denim dress with the same gray shoes she had from her uniform from the Institute. 

“So, how’s the Commonwealth treating you, Freckles?” Maybe Blue was right, maybe she was bad with the nicknames. But how she could not refer to the girl’s amount of freckles? They were practically all over her!

“A lot better than I thought it would. They tell quite some scary stories about the surface back in the Institute.” It almost amused the reporter by how easy it was to approach topics with the synth. 

“That’s actually what I want to talk to you about. I want to interview you, give Diamond City a glimpse of what life’s like in the Institute for a synth, get third-generation synth’s point of view of both worlds. Obviously, you’ll remain anonymous in the paper.” Piper’s hazel eyes watched as Song’s baby blue eyes stared at her before the girl gave her a lopsided smile. 

“Alright. I’m in, Piper.” The reporter paused at the familiarity of the words, momentarily taken back to when she had her interview with Erik. Mentally shaking her head, Piper picked up her notepad and pen once more, offering a comforting smile at the fidgeting synth. 

“Let’s get started then. First, is there anything noticeably different about themselves that synths can tell that differ them from humans?” It felt like an obvious question to put in the paper. Even with Nick and Curie, Piper knew that using them to get a synth’s perspective wouldn’t go over as well, with Nick being a prototype and Curie having once been a Miss Nanny. Song, though, she knew had always been a third-generation synth. 

“Not really. Obviously we don’t age, and gaining or losing weight is pretty much impossible. The scientists in the Institute dress us up in the uniform I had. The Institute’s Robotics Lab builds us from lab-grown bones, muscles, and other tissues. Oh, and of course the synth component.” Piper paused as she looked over at Song. 

“So, the only actual ‘metal’ part of third generation synths is the component then? Nothing in the blood or?” 

“Well, no. Why would any other part of us be if we’re supposed to be like humans?” 

Piper opened her mouth to retort before thinking better on it. It made some sense, but it still was surprising to think there’d still be so little metal in the latest generation of synths. 

“What’s it like as a synth in the Institute?” She noticed how Song frowned, taking a few solid minutes to think about her answer. 

“I suppose it depends. Some synths are fine in the Institute. Some aren’t. Some go in a cycle.” Song’s voice went soft, her hands gripping onto themselves as she continued to talk. “It’s… odd being told you’re nothing but a tool for someone to use. If you’re ever used at all. That your entire existence is just to prove something or other. Obviously I can’t say for every synth in the Institute, considering the reason why I was made.” 

“Why were you made?” 

“The Institute wanted to know if they could make a perfect replica of a particular human in a synth, down to the very DNA. It’s one thing to look like someone, but when DNA tests are a thing…” A wave of dread went through the woman in red at the mere thought. “They found they couldn’t. Just enough that a test would make it look like the synth was a relative. So… here I am.” 

“Must have been one heck of a conversation,” Piper commented, a wave of relief following at the news. 

“You could say that… Synths used for experiments, like me, don’t really… have many purposes, to be honest. Again, my entire existence was just to prove a point.” If Piper wasn’t mistaken, there was a small bit of bitterness in Song’s voice. 

“Are there others like you?” 

“Not for the same experiment, obviously. Those failed to ever awaken for some reason when the scientists tried to work from a completely identical DNA set downwards. But there is Eve, she’s in an experiment about family relations, to see if a synth can integrate into a human family. And there’s the child version of Father.” 

“Eve?” Piper blinked. “She has a name but?” 

“But no other synth in the Institute does. The name was the same as the wife of the scientist who’s also part and in charge of the experiment. Personnel synths aren’t… common in the Institute, but they’re not rare either,” Song said, her voice still soft but bitter sounding. 

“Hold on, just… Are you saying that the Institute made you in such a way that you’re technically the Director’s daughter… but you weren’t even given a name even though another synth was?” Piper placed down her notepad as she stared at Song, watching as the young-looking woman’s face tightened. 

“... Yes. Can… can we move on please?”

She continued to stare but picked up her notepad regardless. “Right, so in comparison to the Institute, how do you find the Commonwealth?” 

“Colorful!” Once more Piper found herself blinking on shock as Song continued, back to smiling. “The Institute full of white walls, so seeing so many colors is actually refreshing. I especially love the fern flowers and hubflowers! They’re just so… bold! I mean, the Institute has a section for growing things like plants too, but I was never allowed in there often. I like being up here! There’s so much to see and observe, to learn about! Everything I.. we were ever told about what the surface was like… has been wrong.” 

Piper wrote a note down, keeping in mind to make sure to use that quote before looking back up at Song as the synth uttered, “I don’t ever want to go back.” 

“Final question,” she stated, stomping down the eerie feeling growing in her chest. “From your point of view, do you consider synths and humans as the same, or that synths are human?” A long silence grew between them, Song’s face scrunched up in thought. Piper waited for her answer, her pen at the ready to write down those words with bated breath. 

“Synths are as human as a ghoul is, I suppose,” the redhead concluded. “We’re not human… but that doesn’t mean we’re not people. Even the synths that are fine with how things are for them in the Institute, we still have personalities, our likes, and dislikes. Our loyalties. We can still feel. Just like humans. Just like ghouls. Just like… dogs, or cats, like any living thing. You don’t need to be human to be able to live.” 

Piper made sure to underline that last line, before looking back up at Song. “Well, that’s it. Thanks, Freckles.” Deep in her gut, she hoped that her readers would take to the article well. 


	6. Chapter 6

“Nick Valentine, I presume?” 

“I hope there’s an explanation of how Erik Valentine is my knight in shining armor.” 

It was almost a joke that the detective’s rescuer that came with Piper to the vault had the same last name as him, but Nick wasn’t about to laugh when considering where he recognized the face. There were more scars and an eyepatch to go with the look now, but Erik was still recognizable with those burns and messy black hair. 

If his memory was correct, it had been a short-term joke during Old Nick’s time about how he and a rowdy protester coincidently had the same last name. But that was just it, a coincidence. 

But the explanation of how that same rowdy protester was still alive over two hundred years later could have fried his circuits. 

“Vault Tec’s was run by bastards,” had been the answer at first before it was all explained back at his office. Running with Erik had proved to bring out the strangest cases later on after that rescue as the man had gone on to try and figure out how to get into the Institute. 

“You know, it’s a good thing that our last names are the same,” the old synth commented during one case. “The agency’s name could have gotten crowded if I tried to update it.” Erik had given a laugh as he beat the dust off of his Minuteman hat. 

“Maybe I’ll consider going detective full time when I’m done being a Minuteman.” 

It was an easy pattern to fall into before Erik brought Song back. 

~~**\-----** ~~

“Okay, so just twitch your index finger, please.” 

Nick did so, earning a smile from the girl as the robotic finger twitched without a squeak. Looking at the younger synth was almost as much as a flashback as looking at Erik. Old Nick had known Nora Valentine back when she had been Nora Sutton and the resemblance that her ‘granddaughter’ had to her was uncanny. Instead, it helped New Nick to make notes of the differences between Nora and Song. Song’s skin was a few shades darker, and the few times he’s seen her push back her shoulder-length hair, he saw that her earlobes were attached. Her now-signature lopsided smile among their group of friends was a great way to distract from her otherwise great likeness. Another thing that helped was that Song was tall. Nora had been about the same size at Piper, the reporter herself standing at about five foot four if Nick had to guess. Song, however, was almost six feet tall without heels, the same height as Preston. 

As Nick leaned back as Song continued to work on the exposed metal skeleton of his hand, he eyed Ellie as the secretary walked by. 

“Morning Song. Morning Nick. Already another tune-up?” the brunette asked. 

“Can’t afford to go missing a few bolts in my dominant hand now, can I?” was Nick’s answer, filled with humor before looking over at Song. 

“Grandpa’s still trying to fix Piper’s and Nat’s printer,” she said, smiling over at Ellie. “And Moe’s a bit loud for my tastes.” 

“Well, aside from him, I hope you’re finding Diamond City alright.” 

“I did an interview for Piper.” Both detective and secretary turned their heads sharply at the statement. Song paid little attention, going back to her work on Nick’s hand. “I’ll be anonymous but she said she wanted to give Diamond City an inside look into the Institute and generation three synths.” 

“Let’s hope Diamond City doesn’t give more trouble over the fact she managed to interview a synth so openly,” Nick commented, flexing his hand to test for more squeaks. “Most people barely like the fact that I’m a synth, to begin with. Anyone finding out you’re a synth won’t take it so well.” 

“I know, Uncle Nick.” 

“Just be careful? I know some Brotherhood soldiers that come to Diamond City and read the Publick Occurrences too. I’d hate to see either of you get into trouble with them,” Ellie pointed out as well. Nick noticed the quick flash of curiosity in Song’s blue eyes. She let go of Nick’s hand, the older synth flexing it once more as she crossed her arms on the desk. 

“Tell me more about the Brotherhood. Please?” 

“They’re very anti-everything not human, obviously.” 

“Obviously. I mean what machines they work on? Armor? Weapons? I know they have vertibirds and that huge flying ship! Oh! And ranks! I know Grandpa’s a Knight and there’s a Paladin Danse everyone else mentions, some Elder Maxson guy? But Grandpa won’t talk about a lot of that stuff with me.” Nick gave a soft laugh as he watched Song get herself worked up about learning more about the military group. 

“Well, can’t blame you for being curious. Power Armor’s a big thing with the Brotherhood. No doubt you’ll get an eye full when Erik finally gets around to introducing you to Danse. Hell knows he’s already overdue with that,” he muttered the last part, mentally shaking his head at the man’s hesitation. “They mostly work with laser weapons from what I’ve seen.” 

“How are they able to have such a huge supply of power armor?” 

“They make it themselves, I’d wager.” Song’s eyes widen as her jaw dropped, the detective finding both amusement and worry at the spark appearing in those baby blue eyes. There was always something uncanny about them, with or without the resemblance to Nora. 

“Amazing.” 

“What’s amazing?” They all looked up and over to see Erik entering the room, adjusting the pipboy on his wrist. 

“Uncle Nick was telling me about what the Brotherhood works on!” Song answered gleefully, the spark yet to leave from her eyes. Nick just took it in stride as the dark-haired man froze where he was, almost glaring over at Nick. Now it was Ellie’s turn to rescue Nick. 

“Hey, Song, you mind helping me with some of these files?” 

“Oh sure, Ellie!” That was the last thing Nick heard between the two women before he found himself pulled outside his agency, facing an angry-looking Erik. He always had to crane his head up to look at the former soldier, both in the present and in his memories as Old Nick. Old Nick had been five foot eleven while synth Nick was easily six foot one. Erik Valentine though was _six foot_ _five_. It impressed Nick most of the time he didn’t bang his head into doorways more. 

“What the damn hell, Nick!?” 

“Hate to point this out to you, kid, but she likely already knew about them back in the Institute when they brought the Prydwen in. Besides, maybe it’ll encourage you to get around to talking to Danse.” 

“I’m… working on it!” It took every circuit in him to not roll his eyes. 

“Sure you are. I’m sure you’ll surprise him with it after the Institute’s gone.” 

Erik scrunched up his hands, looking like he was about to try and strangle Nick, not that it would work or do anything, as he made a frustrated sound. 

“Alright then, Nicky, you tell me how the fuck I’m supposed to tell my superior officer and two other members of my squad about this situation and have none of them tell anyone else in the whole goddamn Brotherhood? Especially Maxson of all of those bigots,” he hissed out, earning a slight sigh from Nick. 

“Look, I get your frustration, and no one ever said it’d be easy. But you’ve been on tiptoes around Danse and that man’s going to think you’ve gotten replaced or something before you get around to tell him if you’re not careful. The sooner you tell him at least, the better.” 

“Alright… Alright… I’ll... I’ll talk to him soon.” 

“Besides, it’s clear Song has plenty of questions about the Brotherhood, even when knowing their views on her very existence.” 

“You’re spoiling her, Nick.” 


	7. Chapter 7

If Cait had to pick one thing she hated about traveling with Erik, it was that the vault dweller treated her like a kid at times. It started with little things when her contract was handed over. Her chem intake seemed to be watched closely, then he’d try and treat her to better armor and weapons. She had first thought he had wanted her to be better when fighting with him, Then he kept treating her nice, giving her items and never asking for anything in return for them. 

Hell, one time he gave her a darn teddy bear! 

It had taken her some time to really realize it, the nail in the coffin having been after watching how he treated Curie similarly, treating both of them separately from the others. It got annoying real quick to the Irish woman, especially when he agreed to help her with her addiction. 

“Want me to take lead?” he had asked as they were entering the Boston Commons after stopping by Goodneighbor. She let out a frustrated yell. 

“Listen, I know I asked for yer help, but I’m not a baby!” 

“Cait, I’m at  _ least _ eight generations older than you and most of the others. And if I was treating you like a baby, I wouldn’t be letting you hold a gun, first of all.” 

“Ha! Cait with a gun? Combat Zone finally had enough of you, girl?” Both of them turned to the sound of the voice to see a small group of raiders behind them, one raider in particular grinning rotten teeth mocking Cait in particular. 

“Guess I missed a few,” Erik muttered, his words barely audible as Cait’s hand gripped her shotgun tightly. 

“Stratton…” 

“Oh, that bastard?” Cait ignored Erik’s question until she was handed over a spiked bat. “Have fun, girl, I’ll get the others while you bash his brains in,” he went on to say, holding his own gun up and aiming at the other raiders. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute why do we get shot while he gets his brains smashed in?” one of the other raiders piped up. 

“Were any of you the same raiders that beat her up while Stratton here left her there despite apparently having something going on between them?” Cait glared over at the dark-haired man as he calmly stared at the group down the barrel of his gun. The other raiders had by now grabbed their own guns, but paused at his question. “As for you Stratton, you were an ass to my daughter. My daughter gets the call to end your life.” With that, Erik fired first. 

It was a relatively short fight, but his declaration of her relation to him befuddled her for a long time. 

“Your daughter?!” 

“Hey, you don’t have to call me ‘Dad’ or ‘Pa’ if you don’t want to. Curie still calls me ‘Monsieur.’” 

Cait facepalmed as they looted Stratton and his friend’s corpses. “So we’re now both your bloody daughters?!” 

“Hey, it just means I have pretty awesome daughters to introduce to my son,” he laughed, looking over at her as he slung his gun over his shoulder. “Always imagined me and Nora having more kids after Shaun.” It hadn’t solved any of the confusion in her as they made their journey to the Vault that could get her the help she needed. 

Finding the machine to finally get the addiction and using it and left her in pain, the redhead barely managing to get out of the chair before passing out. 

She woke up hours later in a sleeping bag, the smell of meat flooding her nostrils as her vision cleared up to see Erik in front of a makeshift cooking station. Shifting to move up, she hissed in slight pain, catching his attention judging by the shifting sound afterward. 

“Hey, careful there. Aside from the pain, how you feeling?” 

“Like everything is so much cleaner. That food smells fucking better than anything, and I’m bloody saying that knowing you were the one that cooked it,” she answered bluntly, earning only a chuckle from the former soldier. 

“Well, good to know your humor hasn’t gone with your addiction,” he said, gently rubbing one of her shoulders. “Proud of you, kid. It takes a lot of guts to admit to a problem you have and asking for help to deal with it.” Her response was only a groan at how cliche it sounded, desperate to stomp down the slight joy at hearing the praise. 

“You still never bloody hell answered about why you were always so damn nice to me when Tommy handed me over to you. I don’t believe you immediately saw me as your little girl the moment you took my contract,” she managed to spit out, moving her head to be able to watch his expression change out of the corner of her eye. “I can understand the egghead, Heaven knows she walked around like a newborn brahmin for the first few weeks she was in that synth body. But why me? I’d more believe you’d try to adopt Piper and her little sister over some broken tough Irish gal…” 

“You really want an honest answer, Cait?” he asked back, beginning to light a cigar as he stared at the cooking station she assumed he had set up for them. “You remind me a lot of myself back before the world went to shit. A person who the world delivered a shitty hand to and decided they were going to punch the world back for it.” He looked back down at her, giving a grimace as he continued. 

~~**\------** ~~

Cait remembered those words as she spent time with one of the pups that she had dubbed ‘Lassie.’ Her attention had been momentarily taken by Song as the other redhead sat down stitching together a repair patch for one of Cait’s leather armor for her shoulders. She still was hesitant on entirely accepting Song as a new member. 

But she knew a glass cut when she saw one and the synth’s scar fit the bill. 

“Hey, Auntie Cait?” Song asked out. “Do you mind if I add something to your armor? I could make it denser or add more pockets if you want.” 

Didn’t hurt that the kid knew her stuff when it came to improving gear. 

“Wouldn’t mind some more pockets. You’d be surprised by how much damage the things you pick up can stop.” 

Cait went back to petting Lassie, the two women going back into silence. Well, at least that what Cait assumed that’s what was going to happen, anyway. 

“What was the Combat Zone like? Grandpa said that was where you two met.” 

Cait huffed, rolling her eyes as she began to answer. “Before he cleared out the raiders that were the customers, you could bet there was always alcohol, chems, and blood getting spilled somewhere.” She kept her answer simple, not really wanting to go too much into detail. 

“Could I go to see-” 

“No. Not only no, hell no.” 


	8. Chapter 8

Strong knew well enough that humans could be tall. One-eyed man though was very tall, taller than any human Strong and his brothers ever fought. Maybe he could make a good strong Super Mutant one day, but for now Strong was fine with the human being… well... a human. 

It did get frustrating how the human had several others gather around them and make them his family. It wasn’t much like how Super Mutants were brothers, but Strong suppose to was  _ too _ bad when he was considered as an odd part of it. Everyone was so much smaller than him, so clearly he was brought to be a good protector for them when the one-eyed human took someone else to travel with. 

Or so he thought. 

They all seem to have good points to how they were good fighters too. Except the little lady in red and the other little lady that had once been a metal lady. He still didn’t understand how they were useful in a fight, but maybe he still had more to learn yet. The little humans that came along weren’t much better than those two, but the little doggies at least knew how to bite. 

Given how the one-eyed human managed to gather all these people together, it wasn’t too hard for strong to proclaim him as his new leader. 

~~**\-------** ~~

The lady from the Institute didn’t seem much of a fighter to Strong when One-eyed human brought her to the group. If anything, she seemed weaker than the little humans despite being taller than them. He couldn’t understand her use at all! 

But she had to have fought before since she had a scar. All fighters had scars! But instead of fighting, she spent most of her time with the silly plants or playing around with everyone else’s armor and weapons. 

So Strong made a decision. He was going to teach the lady how to be strong. 

He approached her one day, a gun in his grip while she stood up with many purple flowers in her hands. 

“Lady follow Strong. Strong teach how to fight.” 

“Strong… I know how to shoot,” she said, taking a step back from the Super Mutant. 

“Then show Strong! We go out to fight range and show Strong that lady can shoot!” 

She seemed to hesitate as she set the flowers down and took the bulky gun from Strong’s hands before Strong picked her up and carried her to the makeshift shooting range MacCready had set up to help teach the little humans how to shoot. There, MacCready was there with his little human, showing him how to hold a tiny gun. 

\---

When MacCready had brought Duncan to the Rocket to make their home there and introduce his boy to everyone, it’d been amazing to slowly get back into the pattern of raising his son once more. Erik had been a darn godsend to the mercenary in helping find the cure and he wass never sure if he could ever repay the vault dweller. 

He figured the closest he could get was helping support him in bringing and ‘raising’ Song when the crazy man brought her back. Maybe it was because it made him realize all the more of why Erik had helped him to begin with or maybe it was his own fatherly instinct, but he worried for her as much as he did for Erik. 

So when Strong came carrying Song over his shoulder to the shooting range they had while he was teaching Duncan, he couldn’t help but worry. 

“Eh, Strong? What are you doing with Song there?” 

“Strong thinks I can’t shoot and that he needs to teach me how to fight,” was the synth’s answer, a tired tone coming from her when the mutant set her down. “Hi, Duncan.” 

The eight-year-old waved shyly from MacCready’s side, the small pipe pistol in his own small hands. The merc almost wanted to laugh at the thought of Song not being able to shoot. 

“Well, I guess it doesn’t hurt that Strong’s just trying to look out for you. So how about you prove the guy wrong then?” 

Song frowned before she looked at the gun in her hands that Strong had given her. It was a .44 pistol with a scope on it, making MacCready frown as well before she quickly made sure to take the scope off of it. 

“I hate these stupid scopes…” he could hear her mutter before she raised her pistol up to aim at the targets. 

One. Two. Three. Four. 

MacCready had to give her credit; what Song lacked in strength and endurance, her perception was downright scary when she wasn’t working with a scope. He chalked it up to being a synth straight from the Institute. 

Strong let out a loud yell of triumph as MacCready covered Duncan’s ears as the mutant celebrated. Song gave a small smile as she covered one of her own ears and leaned away from Strong, trying to move quickly enough to avoid him picking her up again. 

“I’m going back to the garden, thanks to trying to help, Strong!” she quickly said as she dismissed herself. 


	9. Chapter 9

Deacon and Hancock both had the same thought when it came to Erik: ‘Holy shit, whoever pissed off this guy is doomed.’ 

The Goodneighbor mayor got that impression the moment Erik punched Finn and stabbed him with a combat knife. The ghoul had to give him credit on that moment all on his own, even before the man killed Bobbie No-Nose when they were caught in his storehouse. 

Deacon knew it when putting together all the damage Erik did in his search for his son. Getting the man to join the Railroad seemed to be the best choice since Deacon did not want to put a gamble on what would happen if the man they now called ‘Bullseye’ became their enemy. 

Of course, it proved to be fun joining in on the damage the guy created in his mission. 

~~**\----** ~~

“Hey, Hancock. I’m pretty sure ‘little’ Song gave an interview,” Deacon announced as Hancock entered his room in the State House. 

“One of these days, Deacon, I’m going to figure out how you keep getting in here and I’m going to blow your head off,” the ghoul huffed as he went to take a seat on his couch. “Guessing you’re referring to Piper’s latest edition. Haven’t gotten to reading it myself.” 

“You really should, there are quite some interesting quotes in here.” The agent flipped through the pages, leaning back in the chair he’d been sitting in and propping his feet up on the coffee table. “Come on, I’ll it to you if you want.” 

“Let me get some jet, maybe it’ll make the ride more fun.” 

“Funny, Hancock. Alright, ‘Sights of Freedom,’” Deacon began, a grin splitting his face. “I already love the title personally.” 

“Get on it with, Deacon.” 

“I’m getting there, I’m getting there. ‘ _ Ever since the "Broken Mask" incident of 2229, right here in Diamond City, when the first human-looking synth infiltrated and attacked a group of innocent settlers, the fear of synths and the Institute have been a constant factor in our lives. However, among our many questions and worries of us or our loved ones being kidnapped, replaced, or worse, we have forgotten about a part concerning synths from the Institute that many of us often remain ignorant of. The synths that escape and seek freedom and a better life away from the people who run the Institute. _ ’” 

“Piper should really be an author,” Hancock mused. 

“Yeah, but then who’d write the paper? She might write yellow journalism, but it’s hard to not be grateful that there’s some form of journalism at all. Anyways,” Deacon adjusted her hold on the paper, fixing his sunglasses. 

“‘ _ Not many of these escaped synths admit to being such, more than often to protect themselves from being hunted down by both synth-haters and the Institute themselves. Fortunately, this reporter has managed to come into contact with a synth who was willing to give their insight to both our own world and the Institute under the promise that they would remain anonymous. _

_ So first, let us learn about what difference synths notice about themselves compared to normal humans- _ ’” 

“Not a bad idea to start with,” Hancock pointed out, leaning his head back as he listened. Deacon gave a slight nod of his head. 

“Maybe,” he mused before continuing. “‘ _ Our dear synth informant gives a rather surprising answer. “Obviously we don’t age, and gaining or losing weight is pretty much impossible. The scientists in the Institute dress us up in the uniform I had. The Institute’s Robotics Lab builds us from lab-grown bones, muscles, and other tissues.” It should be noted that the uniform our informant had was a simple white suit, with little to know personal touches. But in revealing this, our informant also gives us an insight of how the Institute also builds generation three synths. While the commonwealth has already seen proof of how little metal there is in a synth, the revelation that there truly is no other robot parts aside from the synthetic component is quite groundbreaking for anyone trying to tell the difference between a synth and a human these days by trying to find more metal in the body. _

_ Not only does our informant share this information, but they also share what life as a synth in the Institute is like.  _

_ “I suppose it depends. Some synths are fine in the Institute. Some aren’t. Some go in a cycle. It’s odd being told you’re nothing but a tool for someone to use. If you’re ever used at all. That your entire existence is just to prove something or other.”’ _ ” 

“I wonder how many of those nutjobs in the Institute told her that she was just a tool…” Hancock mused. “Wonder if that’s her motive.” Deacon kept quiet, taking the time to read a bit further before once more giving a voice. 

“‘ _ A tool. How many times have the people in the Institute, and even ourselves thought synths as nothing but tools being used. How many of these synths are actually used as such tools? How many were synths that weren’t fine in the Institute and now wonder the Commonwealth, learning a new life to live?  _

_ So what does our informant think of the Commonwealth?  _

_ “Colorful! The Institute is full of white walls, so seeing so many colors is actually refreshing. I especially love the fern flowers and hubflowers! They’re just so… bold! I like being up here! There’s so much to see and observe, to learn about! Everything we were ever told about what the surface was like has been wrong. I don’t ever want to go back.”  _

_ Colorful. Who could ever have thought much of our world, with all its violence and lost knowledge as ‘colorful?’ And how awful must a place be for someone to never want to go back?’ _ ” 

Both Hancock and Deacon fell into silence at the question, the ghoul letting out a deep sigh. 

“Shit, man.” 

Deacon remained silent, folding back the paper to continue reading and frowning. Hancock lifted his head to look at the Railroad agent, raising a nonexistent brow. “What?” Deacon looked over before coughing for a moment and continuing to read. 

“‘ _ Of course, we also must call into the question many have when it comes to synths and caring about them. ‘Are they human? Do they deserve the same rights as natural humans?’  _

_ It’s easy to dismiss synths as simple tools as many of us have for so long and use the fact that they weren’t born and raised like us against them. But we have never seemed to think of bringing the question up to a synth themselves.  _

_ I asked our informant this question, if they considered synths and humans as the same, or that synths are human?  _

_ “Synths are as human as a ghoul is, I suppose,” they said “We’re not human… but that doesn’t mean we’re not people. Even the synths that are fine with how things are for them in the Institute, we still have personalities, our likes, and dislikes. Our loyalties. We can still feel. Just like humans. Just like ghouls. Just like… dogs, or cats, like any living thing. You don’t need to be human to be able to live.”’” _

Hancock let out a low whistle. “Powerful. Not sure if that kind of statement will stick though, given that to be a ghoul, you tend to have been human, to begin with.” 

“I think she’s using the fact that they’re based on Shaun’s DNA, but yeah…” Deacon muttered. 

“I give it two weeks for Tincan to figure it out.” 


	10. Chapter 10

“Monsieur, I am well aware that I am injured, but it is not so bad that you have to carry me!” 

Getting injured so soon after getting her new body had been insulting enough, but for Erik to continue to carry her on his back made her cheeks a deep red. 

“Don’t worry too much about it, Curie. We’re close enough to Diamond City anyway and we’ll get you to the doctor there,” he said. Just by chance, a Diamond city guard on his rounds outside the Wall happened to be nearby. 

“Oh jeez, you two alright there?” 

“Raider got a lucky shot at my daughter’s leg here. Mind helping us out?” The guard had done a double-take before making over to them and helping Curie down and the three walked slowly to the gate. Curie was sure her face was now entirely red at this point, figuring the guard at pegged her young enough to look like Monsieur Erik’s daughter but still feeling silly to have the lie told. 

Doctor Sun was more than willing to help her once they were in the city’s walls but healing at Homeplate left her almost restless ass she jolted down experiment ideas in the small journal Erik had bought for her. 

“Why did you lie to the guard?” she asked, looking over at him as he cooked their dinner. 

“What did I lie about?” 

“You told him I was your  _ fille _ . Your daughter.” 

“I didn’t lie to him. You are my daughter.” 

“But- oh, I see!” 

She supposed she shouldn’t have been so surprised. He was already a father looking for his child, and clearly, with her now having to adjust to her new body, she assumed it was natural for him to follow his fatherly instincts. 

“Well, I am very honored to be considered such a close family member.” 

~~**\-----** ~~

“You have quite the extraordinary eyesight, Mademoiselle Song,” Curie commented as she typed at her terminal. “However, I do believe we should work on your strength and endurance.” 

“Thanks, Aunt Curie, but synths can’t gain weight and building strength would involve gaining muscle weight…” Song’s legs kicked back and forth as she sat upon the examination table, frowning as she listened to Curie typing her information down. “So… what are my scores?” 

Curie hit a button, bringing up a chart on her terminal for her to look at once she was done typing. 

“Well, aside from your outstanding score of twenty for perception, you next highest scores is intelligence with ten, followed by charisma with a score of seven, then agility with a score of six! Very well to make up for strength, endurance, and luck, all of which you scored four for.” The brunette smiled over to the redhead before her brows scrunched up in worry as the other continued to look down. Clearing her throat, she looked back at the chart. 

“If you are worried about your lower scores, Mademoiselle Song, Monsieur MacCready, and I both had a score of four for endurance. And Monsieur Erik, Strong, and Mademoiselle Ada all scored lower than four for luck.” 

“And strength?” 

Curie fell silent as she searched for another four under the letter ‘S’ on the chart. “Erm… Dogmeat…” she answered quietly. 

“Oh…” 

“But still, to have a score of twenty for perception is quite impressive! The only other occupant here for the Rocket with a score over twenty is Strong for his strength. And I myself am quite envious of that since I myself scored four for perception!” The corner of Song’s mouth twitched up momentarily for a smile as she looked up at Curie. “Come on over, I can show you some of the scores of the others if you wish!” Song’s eyes seem to brighten up at the offer, moving off the table and walking over to look at the terminal. 

Curie smiled in delight as they began to debate over the scores of everyone. 


	11. Chapter 11

“Eh, Captain! Long time no see! Who’s this pretty little lady- well, I guess I can’t really say little.” Longfellow eyed the redhead Erik had brought along with him as the two sat down. Erik himself was already taller than Longfellow, and almost everyone on the Island who wasn’t a super mutant, if Longfellow had to wager, but the old man was willing to make a bet that the girl was taller than any woman in the area as well. 

“Longfellow, I want to introduce to you my granddaughter Song. Song, this is Longfellow, probably the most frustrating old man on the Island.” 

“I’ll take that was a compliment, Captain,” he huffed. “So, instead of finding your son, you find a granddaughter. Well, hopefully, your grandpa here hasn’t been too protective over you once you joined the topside world.” 

Song offered a smile, clearly looking confused at his words. “Honestly, I’m more glad Grandpa even gave me a name.” 

Longfellow blinked as Erik’s smile slowly before to drain from his face. The old man shook his head before flagging down Mitch. “Mitch, the round’s on me!” he called out before leaning over the table, his arms crossed. “What brings you two to the harbor?” 

“Got word there were some special weapon mods here,” Song answered, smiling, pulling one out to show from her bag. Longfellow grabbed it, taking a moment to study it. 

“Night vision scope. Not bad. Looking to do some night hunting soon?” 

“Oh, it’s not for me. I hate using scopes. It’s for the MacCreadys back at the Rocket.” Once more Longfellow blinked in surprise. This time Erik’s smile was back on his face as Debby walked over to give the three their drinks. 

“Song here is an amazing sniper, but her specialty back home is modding. Was hoping to find some wielder gloves here too, or at least someone who’d know where to find a pair that wasn’t missing the fingers. No such luck,” the dark-haired man explained. 

“Weapon modding?” 

“Oh, all kinds! Armor, weapons, robots, chemistry, you name it!” Song’s lopsided smile was wide, showing bright teeth. “Been looking to getting a hold on a power armor frame, preferably without a body or armor, maybe some schematics. It’d be something for the Minutemen to build their own power armor like the Brotherhood does!” Longfellow didn’t miss the slight twitch Erik gave at her granddaughter’s clearly high ambitions. 

“Well, I don’t know anything about the frames, but there might be a chance of some schematics with Brooks over at The Bait Shop if you’re really looking into that.” The spark in her eyes almost was missed with how quickly she got up and ran to the door. 

“I’ll be over there if you need me, Grandpa!” 

Longfellow let out a chuckle as he took his liquor and looked over at Erik. “Really into crafting, isn’t she?” Erik sighed as he took his own bottle in one hand, rubbing his templates with the other. 

“You should see her with a terminal. Nick might be better at hacking, she’s not too bad at it herself. Not a bad medic either with all the training Curie’s been giving her.”

“So what’s the problem with the Brotherhood of Steel? You looked like someone slapped your burns with fish when she mentioned the power armor.” 

Erik sighed, looking to the side for a moment before taking a long drink. Longfellow gave a slow nod, letting the man take his time. 

“It’s Paladin Danse, I haven’t had him over at the Rocket ever since I brought her from the Institute,” Erik began, setting his bottle down. “I haven’t introduced them to each other yet. I’ve been meaning to, but before that, I have to figure out how to even approach the damn topic with him.” 

“I’m guessing it has to do with her obviously being a synth and him being all Brotherhood.” 

“You damn right it has to do with that!” 

“How long have you been putting this off, Captain?” Longfellow watched as that half-burned face seemed to pale, Erik biting his lower lip before he answered. 

“About three weeks. Nick’s been starting to get on my case after the first week.” 

“And I agree with him. You’re only giving yourself more rope to hang yourself on.” 

“You got any advice on how to do it?” 

“Be as blunt as hell.” 

Erik glared at the harbor man, who only just took a swig of his vodka before adding “You rather he try to keep going to the Rocket on his own and meeting her that way?” Erik groaned as he rested his head on the table. “Just tell him sooner than later. Less rope that way.” 

Suddenly, the door to the bar was kicked open, Song back with a wide grin on her face as she ran towards the men, almost sliding past the table in her excitement. 

“Nuka World! Brooks didn’t have any but he says he’s heard of this place called Nuka World that could have what I’m looking for and it sounds like a freaking trade place too so if we get them on the Minutemen side, we could also begin branching out the Minutemen and get more support for them and-” she began rambling off, jumping up and down in pure glee as Longfellow cast a pitiful glance towards his mainland friend, wishing him the best of luck in raising this girl. 


	12. Chapter 12

The first night Recon Squad Gladius had together peacefully to talk with their newest member was about a week after Danse had offered him a place in the Brotherhood. 

“Wait, so you were there when the bombs dropped? And were in the army before then? You must have a lot of history to tell,” Haylen laughed as Erik told of his time in the vault. 

“None of it’s pretty…” he had mused. Paladin Danse sat in his power armor, his brow furrowed at the skeptical look on Rhys’s face. 

“Not a lot of things are. Or maybe you’re just bluffing..” 

“Rhys!” 

“Nah, it’s fine, Paladin, I get where Rhys is coming from. Well… I guess the world back then really depended on which part of it you were coming from. I was born in a poor neighborhood, so fights broke out a lot. Resources weren’t really given to the lower class families too much, so riots were common. Join in a few myself at least before I joined the army.” 

“Why did you join?” Haylen asked, her hands covering what Danse assumed was a holotape to record what was pretty much history being given. 

“I had a chem addicted divorced mother and three younger siblings, Haylen. And the army paid well. Figured if there was ever a chance to throw a punch back at the world and give some future to my family.” 

“That’s rather noble, on behalf of your family,” Danse commented before Rhys made his own question, the Knight’s voice softer this time. 

“What happened to them?” 

“Mom died long before the bombs dropped. Guess that was a blessing in disguise. Before the bombs dropped, Mark was some sort of intern in D.C. Paul was investigating some sort of strange occurrence in West Virginia. The darn bastard was really into the paranormal. And Anna... She was a writer of sorts over on the West Coast after she married Roger. I remember hearing that there was trouble over there concerning him shortly before the bombs dropped.” Danse watched as Erik seemed to go to a different place in his mind, his one good eye distant as he stared blankly up at the ceiling. “I remember looking forward to introducing them to Shaun, especially with their own son. Granted Junior was thirteen at the time, but you know…” 

“Roger and Junior?” Haylen asked. 

“Captain Roger Maxson. We trained together.” The three stared at Erik in silence, to which the man out of time lifted his head up from his position and looked questioningly at them back. “What?” 

“Roger Maxson was your brother-in-law?” Danse asked, wrapping his head around this statement. 

“Yeah. Why, is there something I should know or?”

“He was the founder of the Brotherhood!” Rhys proclaimed, his hazel eyes wide as the information sunk in. “And you… your sister... I…. What was he like? Before the War?!” 

“A stuck up,” Erik replied bluntly, looking rather weirded out by the Knight’s shift in reaction. “Don’t get me wrong, Roger wasn’t a bad guy, heck if anything I more couldn’t understand why a nice guy like him got stuck in the army, to begin with, but the guy was a pain when it came to rules back when I knew him. He cared a lot though and didn’t mind it too much when I gave him shit for dating my sister.” 

“You what?” Danse said. 

“I threatened him. Fuck ranks and that we trained together. He was dating my baby sister.” 

“Let’s hope if you ever meet Elder Arthur Maxson, he won’t hold that against you,” Danse commented, trying to hide a slight chuckle. Erik gave Danse a questioning glance. 

“... His descendant?” 

“Affirmative.” 

“Shit, man. It’s been what? Eight, nine generations at least? That makes this Arthur guy, what? My great-great-great-great grand-nephew or something? Of all the things to find out when waking up after two hundred years…” 

Danse shook his head at the new recruit, wondering how the Elder would react to this news. 

~~**\-----** ~~

When Erik came back from the Institute, the Paladin hadn’t been there, but he wasn’t blind to how he seemed to now be banned from the Rocket. He began to pay close attention to Knight Valentine since then, noticing how he seemed to constantly be on edge. He kept on making personnel notes after the first few days, hoping more than he should that the Institute hadn’t sent in a replacement…. 

Then, after three weeks of the behavior, the Knight came to the police station and pulled Rhys and Haylen along as he walked towards Danse. 

“Somewhere private. Now. I’ve been putting off the news long enough,” he had merely said. The paladin nodded, eyeing Haylen and Rhys who only just gave confused and worried looks before he led towards the garage with the workbenches. Erik quickly locked the door behind them before sighing. 

“Knight,” Danse began before Erik held a hand up. 

“Give me a minute Danse. There’s… okay, first there’s a lot of information to take in, so you might want to take a seat.” 

“Take you time, Knight,” he said, eyeing Haylen and Rhys once more. Rhys frowned, crossing his arms as Haylen squirmed in place. Erik took in a deep breath before moving away from the door, approaching the three. 

“So, you all already know about Shaun, and the Insitute, right?” 

“Yeah, we heard about how your son is the leader of the damn Institute,” Rhys huffed, earning a sharp kick from Haylen. 

“Thanks, Haylen. Well, that’s not all there is. Shaun… The Insitute Director… Fuck it, I have a granddaughter.” 

Silence fell over them, thousands of thoughts going through Danse’s mind before he finally settled on one question. “So your behavior these past few weeks has been due to you finding out you have a granddaughter?” 

“She’s a synth.” Erik blurted out before holding his hands up as all three opened their mouths at the same time. “JUST HEAR ME OUT! She’s… she was an experiment synth. They wanted to see if they could make an actual synth clone, they found that they couldn’t, and she’s the result. Half of my son’s DNA is by all means what makes up of hers. A quarter of my DNA.” 

“You’re accepting a synth as your grandchild?!” Danse finally got out. “Just because of DNA?! Have you not considered that the Institute might be using it to spy on your activities!?” 

“I haven’t brought her on any missions I’ve done for the Brotherhood,” Erik replied calmly, far too calmly for Danse’s liking. “And we performed an operation on her to make sure the Institute doesn’t track her. If they don’t know her location, they can’t control her. And hell knows she doesn’t want to go back.” 

“Erik,” Haylen began for Rhys interrupted her. 

“So why are you telling us now!? Why three weeks!?” 

“Gee, Rhys, let’s think. I find out that not only is my son the leader of the goddamn Institute, but also that I have a granddaughter who’s a synth. So I should just let the goddamn Brotherhood, who hunts synths down, know straight away and totally be cool with that fact!?” Erik growled before Danse stepped between the two. 

“Rhys, back down. Valentine, you’re becoming irrational.” The paladin and knight glared at each other before the latter sighed and brushed his hair back. 

“I want you three to meet her.”

“What?” Danse and Rhys said. 

“Each one of you for different reasons,” Erik began. “She caught word of this place called Nuka World that might have some tech, especially power armor schematics, so having a Brotherhood patrol check the place out wouldn’t be such a bad idea, right? And Haylen might be able to catch on to if she’s suffering from something that’s affecting her mentality. Just… just at least corporate with her for me, if not for myself then at least for all I’ve managed to do for the Brotherhood up to this point?” 

\---

“Grandpa! How was your trip….” The first thing that Danse registered about the synth was the crown of fern flowers she wore on top of her bright red hair. She was looking wide-eyed at the group that approached. 

“It was great, poppet! How about I introduce you to my pals here? Song, this is Scribe Haylen, Knight Rhys, and-” 

“Is that T-60 power armor?!” The group reeled back at the shrill that left her as she quickly began moving around in circles. “Oh my, this is amazing!” she continued to exclaim as she grabbed one of Danse’s arms. The Paladin frowned and tried to move away before realizing that in doing so, he’d have to bump into Rhys behind him. “Uncle Nick said that the Brotherhood makes its own power armor, but I never thought the type was the same type that had been deployed just before the bombs dropped! And so well crafted too! Oh if I could shake the hand of the person who made this suit! Granted some improvements could be made. Maybe an upgrade to T-60f for starters. Oh! Medic pump for the torso piece! That’d be a great modification! Or maybe reactive plating! Wait, no, who’d try to attack someone in power armor with a melee weapon?” She took a step back, narrowing her eyes as she continued to stare at Danse’s power armor before Erik placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“The man _in_ the power armor is Paladin Danse. Scribe Haylen, Knight Rhys, Paladin Danse, this is my granddaughter Song.” 

She looked up, meeting Danse’s befuddled gaze as he watched her expression turn from focused to wide-eyed and embarrassed, her entire face going almost as red as her hair. 

“You mean the synth,” Rhys corrected, sneering. This seemed to kick said synth out of her reaction, hints of red still across her freckled cheeks as she stood straight up in attention. 

“Unit designation S0-N6, though I do prefer the name Song, and for the two days you’ll be here getting ready, I am available for armor modding, weapon modding, radaway, rad-x, and stimpak making. Oh, and power armor modding if you wish for that too,” she responded, smiling as she added on. “As for the mission itself, I’ll also be your sniper, hacker, secondary medic, and optional diplomat.”

“Diplomat?” Danse question, his eyes narrowed. ‘Song’ merely smiled back at him in response, though he didn’t fail to notice the shaking of her hands. 

“Strength and endurance are not my strong suits, Mr. Paladin Danse, sir. Besides, since Grandpa is working this mission as a Brotherhood member from what I understand, someone has to represent the Minutemen.” 

“That’s not necessary.” 

“Oh but it is. We have absolutely no clue on how long the Brotherhood is going to stay here after the Institute is destroyed, if they stay after the Institute is destroyed at all.” 

He narrowed his eyes, the words seeming they should sound like a threat, but the tone they were said in being nothing but honest, forward-thinking. 


	13. Chapter 13

The courser was well aware he was disliked the moment he was assigned as a ‘bodyguard.’ Considering the amount of protest Father’s parent made upon the suggestion, he was pretty sure Erik did not need the extra protection. When Erik finally relented on Father’s decision, the man had turned to X6-88 when a very conflicted expression. 

“You can stay here if you want to, erm… is there anything you’d prefer to be called?” 

“X6-88 is fine, sir. And I am very much insistent on follow Father’s advice of letting me come with you. While I do doubt the need for extra protection, it is better to have it even with no danger than have danger and not have enough backup.” 

“And I already hate you.” 

“Obviously. Shall we continue on, sir?” 

“Okay, first off,” Erik stayed put, raising a hand to stop X6-88 from moving forward. “Cut out with that ‘sir’ shit, I hate ranks. Second, I don’t think I’ve made it clear enough back there that _I don’t want you with me_.” 

“I’m well aware you don’t wish me to go along with you,” X6-88 began to say, frowning. “But as the Institute’s future, you having protection from the Institute is highly... recommended.” 

“I repeat, I already hate you.” 

“I still insist on accompanying you on your missions.”

~~**\-----** ~~

“And that’s why we’re stuck with Mr. ‘Stop calling me Xander’ because the Institute and my son are goddam assholes,” Erik concluded, the group of friends, including Haylen and Rhys, all looking at the courser warily. X6 kept a straight face under all of their gazes. 

“I still insist on X6-88, sir,” he said, observing how Erik took in a deep, frustrated breath. 

“Father… made Grandpa his successor?” His eyes immediately went over to the sight of S0-N6 in a strange dark outfit. Upon first inspection, he assumed it was some sort of engineer uniform. 

“I see you’ve adjusted to the surface world well in the span of three weeks, S0-N6. I’ll admit, when word got around the Institute that you were out here and the Synth Retention Bureau didn’t request anyone to bring you back, I didn’t expect to see you still existing.” Something in the air seemed to grow cold upon his words, a flash of confliction on S0-N6 face as he felt Erik’s glare upon him. 

“Others… in the Institute asked about me?” 

“It was noted you failed to show up to report in at the end of the week.” 

S0-N6 frowned, her brows scrunched up as her eyes seemed to threaten to spill tears down her cheeks. 

“Father didn’t let anyone know that Grandpa wanted me to go with me?” 

“No. Don’t worry on your duties, K3-19 has easily adapted to performing them.” 

Silence existed before S0-N6 abruptly turned away and marched towards the garage. MacCready was the forest to speak up, keeping Duncan behind him. 

“A week!? It took you guys a week to find out that the leader’s kid was missing?!” 

“S0-N6 is not Father’s daughter, merely a synth with appropriate enough DNA copied that would show her as his daughter.” 

“Xander, shut up before I punch you, MacCready, don’t you dare throw a punch, you got a kid!” Erik yelled. 

“I insist on being called-” 

“I said shut up!”

“I’m going to go check on her,” Cait said, breaking from the group to head towards the garage. 

“So what do we do with Sunglasses 2.0 here?” Hancock asked, X6-88 eyeing the switchblade the ghoul had in his hands. 

“He stays here,” Erik snarled, glaring still at the courser. X6-88 frowned deeply, opening his mouth to speak only to get cut off by the vault dweller. “There are already five people going on the patrol to Nuka-World, including myself. And we don’t need any goddamn Institute loyalist on it-!” 

“If I may?” All eyes went to the Brotherhood scribe, the Paladin in power armor raising a brow. 

“Go ahead, Haylen.”

“I think it’d do some good to bring this… courser with us.” 

“Explain.” Danse’s eyes narrowed as even X6 found himself confused by why this woman was speaking up for him. 

“If the patrol needs to split up due to any circumstance, we could have the ideal situation to go in two teams of three, even more ideally with the formation of two humans with one synth. That way, in the case of something happening, no one is alone with the courser, or with…” Haylen looked over to where Erik and X6-88 were standing, the courser noticing the apprehension on her face. “Song… “

Plus, it shouldn’t hurt too much to use this synth as a meat shield since it seems to be willingly for that.” X6-88 did not know if he particularly liked the sentence the Knight Rhys added. 


	14. Chapter 14

She had never been enough. 

When S0-N6 came to exist in the world, stumbling and landing on her face just shortly after her creation, she was so amazed by the machines that were surrounding her and were responsible for the life she now had that if she still wasn’t adjusting to her new legs, she would have left the scientists’ arms and try to examine the machinery on her own. Instead, she was told of the experimentation that she was the result of, of her DNA and how half of it was copied from the Director of the Institute…. 

Father… 

Her father. 

She was set to be assigned as his personnel synth, and at first, she was fine with that. She had been so willing to try and get to know the man that was responsible for her life and help him in their day to day life. 

But then she noticed how… odd it was. 

She observed the Binets and other families in the Insititute as she went about her duties, one of which was to take messages and notes in place of Father, and she found herself feeling jealous. Particularly of Liam Binet. Why was it so different between her and Father compared to these families? Why did Alan Binet talk about how proud he was of Liam while Father barely said anything more than ‘what do you have for me today?’ to her? Why did the Thompsons express such fondness for their two girls when they were born, but she could never recall Father ever saying anything in such a tone towards her? Why did the Filmores constantly refer to their son by his relation to them, when she couldn’t recall anyone ever referring to her as ‘Daughter’ like they called her father ‘Father?’ Was Father not proud of her? Was that it? 

Her first attempt to gain that pride was trying to go around the Institute on her own time to help fix machines or improve them on her own time. There were many improvements that could be done, she found, and plenty of screws and bolts for sure that needed to be attended too. S0-N6 found it almost… relaxing. There was just something calming about working on various objects. But it seemed to be a mistake, Father getting angry at her constantly when she was found trying to work on the machines or improve a terminal’s functions. 

But he was noticing her more. And she couldn’t find the same joy in being a ‘personal synth’ anymore just making notes and cleaning the rooms. 

Then she came across the BioScience lab. The plants, the gorillas, the  _ life _ , she adored it. And there, she met Dr. Virgil. He was nice to talk to, one of the only other scientists to address the fact that she was Father’s daughter in her memory. To finally be noticed was… thrilling, the heartbeat in her chest rampant. She couldn’t go as often as she liked to talk to him, since getting caught brought… bad results. 

Then when he got promoted to take on Dr. Syverson’s project and trying to find Virgil in that lab…

It opened her eyes as horror filled her, seeing those super mutants. 

“We’re supposed to help those people!” she had cried, pounding her fists onto Virgil as the scientist tried to escort her back out. “The Institute is supposed to be mankind’s hope and future! That… that isn’t a future!” 

It least Virgil seemed to agree with her one that, if his constant request for the project’s shut up was anything to go by. She tried too hard to copy Father’s signature, but it was never enough. That became the main cycle of her life. It was never enough. 

She was never enough. 

She didn’t have enough of copied DNA, her entire existence just to make a point. Her doing something useful that wasn’t just running around with messages and notes and cleaning wasn’t enough. Her trying to help wasn’t enough. Her being a synth wasn’t enough, as she found out when she tried to kiss Brian Virgil. 

“Wha- what are you trying to do?!” he had yelled, taking a large step back and causing her to stumble a bit.

“Um… kiss you? I believe that’s a way for how a person shows another person affection?” 

“I- I know what a kiss is! But why would you try to attempt it!?” 

She had felt so confused at that moment. He had been so willing to talk to her, acknowledge her as just more than an average synth in the Institute. He had been so kind and thoughtful when giving his constant request to shut down the FEV program. And he was confused on why she wanted to kiss him? 

“Because I… like you. You’re very kind to me… And I want to kiss you.” His expression at her words left her even more confused before he ushered her out of the BioScience division. 

“I’m going to pretend this conversation never happened, do you hear me? And we will never talk about this again.” 

“Why not? Why-” The door had closed in her face, leaving her facing the now blocked hallway trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Hadn’t she been blunt? Had he just not been interested? 

Had it been her fault?

She had gone to confront Virgil almost a week later after not seeing him since her attempt, determined to talk about it to get a straight answer. Instead, what she got was seeing the closest thing to a friend she had turned into a super mutant, of his own decision, and a new scar over her eye from the broken glass. And when Father had found out she had been in there, S0-N6 found herself in her own personnel room for once, the first time ever, but with the door locked. She guessed she was going to get her mind wiped for all her disobedience, so she spent her time trying to come up with all of her happier memories and found little. Her time instead was spent trying to tinker with various items in her room and reading the same three books in the room over and over again. She wondered if Father even remembered that she was in the room after some time. 

And then… 

Her grandfather came. 

“Now, about that book-”

“Oh, I’ve read it so much by now, I know it from front to back,” she admitted, looking at the book next to her now. “I don’t have a lot of reading material here.” 

“Don’t you get to read the terminals around here?” 

“No, synths aren’t supposed to read the terminals and I got in trouble too many times trying to improve them… Honestly, I assumed they put me here to keep me out of trouble before wiping my mind.” 

His brows furrowed, and S0-N6 found herself scared that she had messed up again. 

“Wiping your mind?” 

“I’m supposed to be Father’s personnel synth…” she began, fidgeting in place as she slowly began to get scared. Grandpa didn’t look like anyone else in the Institute, and she wasn’t sure what to expect given how he so clearly glared at Father. “..But I like fixing things! I’m not supposed to, but I like being more useful!” He blinked before sighing and shaking his head, a small smile on his face. 

“Ever thought of coming to the surface world?” 

“The su-surface? But isn’t it full of death and destruction?” 

“Yes, but people still manage to have decent lives up there and help each other,” he said. “I’m the General of the Minutemen, and our job is to help protect the settlements and even set up new ones. Sure, things can get bloody, but if it means it helps protect people from super mutants, feral ghouls, and whatnot, then things can get bloody. Besides, I’m sure your father won’t mind if you met the rest of your family.” She stayed there, blinking in surprise at the idea before a smile spread across her face. 

“Rest of the family?” 

“Sure! Granted, most of its adopted, but not all family has to be through blood.” 

“What.. what are they like?” Were they like Father? Were they more like Grandpa? Or were they more like the rest of the Institute? 

“Well, there’s Cait and Curie, who’d be your Aunts, I guess to start off with. Curie’s a synth like yourself, but she used to be a Miss Handy robot. She conducts her own research projects back home, her latest so far has been making stimpaks even better than they already were. Cait’s a bit rough around the edges when you first meet her, but she’s sweet under all that tough skin of hers. I met her in the Combat Zone where she was a cage fighter and she certainly knows how to swing a bat.” The two sat down, S0-N6 on the bed and Grandpa pulling a nearby chair up to sit in. 

“There’s also Codsworth, he’s a Mister Handy your grandmother and I had back before the war and he’s loyal as heck. Has a few odd mannerisms, but he’s a good guy… bot… you understand.” 

She didn’t really, but she nodded regardless. 

“There’s the MacCreadys. RJ’s a mercenary and one of the best shots I know. Cares a lot about his kid. That’d be Duncan. Shy squirt, but already shaping up to take after his pa. Preston’s pretty much my second-in-command in the Minutemen. He’s a bit of a goody-two-shoes, honestly, but what matters is that he cares about the people. Constantly trying to help them. Nick Valentine’s another synth, detective. I owe him a lot, more than I care to admit for his help in trying to find your pa. Piper’s a reporter, a bit obsessed with the truth and finding it to share with others. Maybe not be the best reporter I’ve ever known in my life, but the fact that she still reports on various topics and tries her best means a lot in this world. Her sister Nat’s not too bad either, even if a bit pushy.” 

She returned the smile he was giving, pulling her knees up to her chest as she continued to listen. 

“There’s the dogs, Dogmeat and Daisy and their ten puppies” 

“What’s a dog?” 

He blinked at her question, freezing for a moment before offering a smile. “Well, you’ll see if you come to the surface. Sort of hard to explain when it’s been a constant in your life, honestly…” 

“Anyways,” he went on, pausing just for a moment to think about where he left off. “Ah, right, there’s a super mutant with us, his name is Strong. He’s… obsessed with trying to find the ‘milk of human kindness’ and it’s… I’m not really sure about him, honestly, but he doesn’t hurt anyone back home and even is willingly to protect the settlement near our home, so that’s something. Hancock’s the mayor of Goodneighbor and is quite the junkie. Be careful of what he offers you, and I wouldn’t take his flirts too seriously. Deacon’s... a fan of telling tall tales and stories. Nice to listen to, but not everything he says is true. Heck, I’m still trying to go over some of the things he says and trying to figure out how true they are.” A look of confliction went across his face. 

“Then there’s… Danse. He’s a Paladin in the Brotherhood.” 

“The airship people?” 

“Yeah. He’s not the worst guy among them. He’s honest and genuinely cares for people. But he’s far from the best person when it comes to how bigotted they are. I think more of the family has friendlier conversations with Strong than him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him out of his power armor.” 

“Power armor?” 

“Yeah, it’s these suits of metal that a good amount of the Brotherhood soldiers wear. I have a T45 suit back home if you want to check it out. So… what do you say? Want to see what life’s like up there?” 

She didn’t even think twice before she said yes. 

“Father! I’m heading out with Grandpa!” 

It was the best decision she could think of making in her entire life. Her family on the surface treated her like she actually was someone, even if some of them, like Cait, Hancock, and Preston, seemed apprehensive of her. Because they still treated her as… her. She got to finally see what a dog looked like and she utterly fell in love with the smaller ones. She wasn’t limited in where she went for once or what she did aside from what she lacked in strength and endurance. She could go work in the garden, she could work at any of the workbenches, she could set up her own projects. She had a  _ name _ . She wasn’t just S0-N6 anymore. She was Song. She was Erik’s granddaughter. She was a modder and creator. 

And something in the fact that her grandfather gave her a name, when Father hadn’t, sparked something in her. 

So she began to focus her projects on helping the Minutemen. She started to work on making better armor for them, better weapons. She constantly had to remind herself that she had to included scopes for them, that not everyone had her perception. And she found joy in being useful in that way. Grandpa didn’t always take her on Minutemen missions, but she didn’t find herself saddened by that. After all, it left her to work on her projects to help the Minutemen at home. It left her to come up with more ideas and projects that she never got to do before. It left her to tend to the garden and help make more stimpaks, radaway, and rad-x, helping her Aunt Curie in making those drugs better. It left her to get used to all the colors the world had to offer, colors she never got to see before, to read so much more material, and learn about the world she now lived in.

Then she finally met Paladin Danse and the two other Brotherhood members. She’d been so focused on the power armor the paladin wore, she couldn’t help but be embarrassed when she was finally made aware of the man in the power armor. He was pleasant to look at, but his eyes constantly looking at her, judging her… there was something there that once more spark something in her. 

Though that spark almost was put down when X6-88 arrived with Grandpa with the news. 

She didn’t think she’d be so hurt by his words. The logical part of her mind reasoned that, yes it’d make some sense for Father to name Grandpa as his successor. Grandpa was still physically younger, and if Father was suffering from cancer, he obviously had to make a choice. And grandpa was human. But another part of her felt like she’d been stabbed. Did being human really matter in the choice? Was it not enough to just be a person? 

Finding out that it had taken a week for others in the Institute to notice she was gone, that Father hadn’t even commented about it or told anyone, and that no one went to  _ look  _ for her… that her former role of being Father’s personnel synth had been so easily replaced by another synth… 

Her shoulder shook as she cried in the corner of the garage. It had slowly become  _ her _ garage, her safe space in the past three weeks. And it felt safe to let her tears spill over as she tried to reason with herself about how foolish it was for her to be upset about any of this. She didn’t want to go back to the Institute, after all, so why should she care that no one asked about her after she left?!

“Song?” She jerked her head up to look at Cait as the shorter redhead began to slowly approach her. 

“I… I don’t know why I’m upset, I mean… I didn’t want to go back, I still don’t want to go back, so- so I shouldn’t be upset that no one looked-!” Song blinked in shock as Cait sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug. 

“You have every right to be upset with those blimey bastards,” Cait said, patting her back as Song continued to still feel the tears roll down her own cheeks and dampening the brawler’s shoulder. “Just let it all out, doll.” And she did. She sobbed heavily as she hugged Cait back, burying her head into Cait’s shoulder as her own shoulders continued to shake. After some time, someone else came into the garage and joined in on the hug. Raising her head up slightly, she caught the sight of her grandfather holding both her and Cait, his expression unreadable from her position, but she could still feel the sense of ire and an attempt at comfort in the atmosphere around him. 

But she already knew that his ire wasn’t at her and Cait. The past three weeks had given her a good idea that his anger remained at Father. Maybe that anger from when he had first brought her to the Rocket hadn’t ever left, just slowly growing as time went on. 

Grandpa seemed to be the type to hold grudges. 

“Haylen’s convinced that bringing Xander along would be ideal to keep any separation between the patrols to at least divide into three if needed,” he finally spoke up after a while. 

“Fucking hell,” she heard Cait muttered. 

“I’m not going to leave you along with him, and he’s insistent on being part of whichever three I’d be part of,” he whispered, letting out a frustrated sounding sigh. Song continued to stay quiet, listening to her grandfather as she tried to calm herself. 

“I asked Haylen to stick you with to make up for it. Since she brought up the idea.” 

“So we leave soon?” she finally asked, not proud how her tears still fell. 

“Tomorrow morning.” 

“Good. Good.” 


	15. To Nuka World

The walk to the area that would lead the group to Nuka World was awkward, to say the least. Erik kept on adjusting the radio on his pipboy, trying to get a signal as it became clear that it would take a while to get to their location. The group itself seemed to state in a formation, with Haylen constantly by Song’s side, Danse and Rhys in the middle, and Erik and X6 on the other side, the vault dweller was more than happy to keep the courser as far away from Song as possible. 

The silence was suffocating until Song finally said something. 

“So, why lasers?” 

“What?” Haylen looked over. 

“The Brotherhood weapons. The three of you carry laser weapons. Why would your organization have such a focus on laser weapons?” 

“There were plenty before and during the Great War,” Paladin Danse answered, eyeing her warily obviously. Erik gave a slight sigh but supposed this was probably as good as he could expect given how long he had put off telling the paladin. At least Danse seemed aware that between X6 and Song, Song was at least still more certainly on their side. Maybe after this, he and the others would see more eye to eye with her. “They also have a decent range combined with damage per second ratio and accuracy over ballistic weapons.” 

“Why are you asking anyway, synth?” Rhys sneered. Erik almost reached over to smacked the Knight, but then had to remember that Danse’s power armor was big enough to block any attempt.  _ ‘Dammit, Danse.’ _

“Well, I figured since the Brotherhood is honestly the only opponent the Institute has with a focus on technology, I mean holy shit you make your own power armor, to know if your weapons would also be better! I mean, you have the armor, obviously,” Song said, Erik now finding himself becoming more and more worried about if he should talk to his granddaughter about keeping some of her thoughts and plans to herself more. “But imagine if the Brotherhood had plasma weapons! Oh, wouldn’t that be a sight!” 

Erik, Haylen, and Rhys all looked over at Song with raised brows. 

“Not likely, or practical in many cases,” Danse answered, immediately causing the three to snap their attention to the paladin as he answered. “While the Brotherhood could be capable of making and modding plasma weapons for the troops, the resources needed to make the ammunition are hard to come by and create. Making plasma cartridges on an airship made of steel also poses issues in of itself.” Song hummed, cupping her chin in thought while Danse eyed everyone else. 

“What?” the paladin asked, Erik barely seeing Rhys mouth the words 'Why would you answer her seriously?'

“Alright, fair enough. I did not consider that,” Song spoke up, looking back up at Danse. 

“It seems the Brotherhood isn’t capable of being as advanced as the Institute,” X6 commented, Erik groaning loudly at what he swore was a tone of smugness in the courser’s voice. 

“‘Advanced’ my ass, X, you coursers still use the most basic laser weapons I’ve seen, even with modifications,” Song huffed, her nose scrunching up. 

“I highly doubt a personal synth would be capable to understand how our weapons are better.” 

“Alright, X, let’s do some math. You, in your courser uniform plus your Institue laser rifle with a fire rate of sixty-six and damage per shot of fifteen, verses Knight Rhys-” 

“I already like the odds,” the courser commented. 

“Whoa, hey, why do I get to be picked against the Institute freak!?” The knight yelled.

“With his mid-range combat armor over his Brotherhood armor and standard laser gun with a fire rate of fifty and a damage per shot of twenty-four. The Knight has protective, plus can deal more damage,” Song continued. Erik felt the corner of his mouth tug. 

“So X6 would be dead,” he ended. 

“He’d be dead,” Song confirmed, the smile on her face almost… unsettling for the veteran.

“You’re forgetting combat experience,” X6 pointed out. 

“No, we’re not,” Rhys was quick to respond, looking oddly fine with just leaving the conversation now. 

“I wasn’t aware you wanted to go against Paladin Danse with his power armor and modded laser rifle that has even more damage per shot, X6,” Song said, still giving that unsettling smile. Silence fell upon the group again, this time the tension that risen between the two synths almost suffocating the air around them. Erik found himself once more trying to get ahold of that signal until his pipboy nearly exploded with the radio sound. 

“ _ Hiya, kids! Remember, Nuka-World is only open for a few more weeks in October! Come down and see me and Cappy one last time before buckling down for the winter _ !”

“Oh thank God, I found the damn signal,” he muttered, already finding himself annoyed by the tone of the mascots for the park. 

~~**\-----** ~~

“Well, guess we weren’t the only ones looking for the signal.” 

The patrol looked over the hill, Erik looking through a pair of binoculars while Song sat nearby, preparing her own rifle. Rhys scowled as both her and Danse loaded up their own guns and X6 got out his rifle. 

“What are the numbers, Valentine?” the paladin asked, already feeling his gaze on him. 

“I’m counting at least five gunners right off the bat. Maybe more. There’s also an assaultron down there in those numbers.” He smiled slightly at the sound of Song’s excited gasp. 

“An assaultron?! How close to the entrance?!” 

“You can’t be honestly thinking of hacking an assaultron among a group of gunners,” X6 said. Erik placed his binoculars down as he prepared his own gun. 

“Not the worst idea,” Haylen pointed out. 

“She’s sneaky enough to pull it off,” Erik himself commented, laying down on the ground as he finished setting up his sniper rifle. “It’s close enough to the entrance if you really want to try it, Song. I’ll cover you just in case.” 

“Thanks, Grandpa!” The corner of his mouth twitched in slight pride at the confidence in her tone as she ran off to get in position. He could feel the frown Danse held on his face without even looking at his friend. 

“This is really pushing it, Knight.” 

“Hope you’re ready to eat those words when she comes back and shows you what she can do.” 

He peered through the scope with his one good eye, keeping track of his granddaughter easily with the bright red hair she had. He made a note to himself to see about getting her an appropriate hood or hat to help cover that hair of hers. He sensed one of the others kneeling down next to him. 

“Hey, Erik,” Haylen spoke up quietly. 

“Yeah, Haylen?” he responded, still not taking his eye away from the scope. 

“Did you steal that uniform for it… her?” 

“What?” The question almost had him look away from his gun. Almost. “Oh, no. I asked Ingram if she still had any of her old uniforms after Song and I couldn’t find any ideal gear for her in far Harbor. That’s where she got word of this Nuka World place by the way. Figured since I was using this patrol to introduce you three to her, I might as well get some equipment from the Brotherhood to help not make her such an obvious target. Not a perfect fit for Song obviously, there’s still a height difference, but a bit of tailoring fixed that,” he explained, deciding to opt out the details of the conversation with Ingram. The less said about that conversation, the better.

“Wait, so Proctor Ingram knows?!” Rhys hissed. 

“No. I told her it was to help make sure that the patrol didn’t have a bullseye on its back.” 

He heard Danse sigh heavily behind him as he continued to watch Song hack into the robot with her own pipboy. He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face as he watched, nor resist letting out the chuckle that came out as she proceeded to throw a few makeshift mines near the entrance and behind her on her way back. Erik moved away from his rifle, sitting up as he moved to face the others as Song re-approached them. 

“Not bad. Where were you keeping all of those?” he asked, earning looks from the others. 

“I added deeper pockets to this,” she merely commented as she sat next to a very uneasy Haylen and pulled out a detonator. 

“I thought the plan was to hack the assaultron,” X6 commented. 

“There are more gunners down there I saw through a hole in the wall. That assaultron is sadly one of the older models and pretty worn down. It’ll probably get destroyed by those Gunners before taking care of them all, so once that’s down,” Song trailed off, giving that lopsided smile of hers as she raised that detonator to show the others. “Gunners go boom the moment they try to find us.” 

Erik just smirked at the raised brows everyone except X6 gave. 

“Told you you’d be eating those words, Danse.” 

“I’d advise waiting until after the Gunners are dead to gloat, sir,” X6 pointed out. 

“Goddammit, Xander.” 

~~**\-----** ~~

The sounds of explosions from outside was enough to get Harvey into the right mindset for his act. Even if the raiders weren’t threatening what remained of his friends and family, whatever was making those explosions was going to be trouble. The dark blonde’s breath became shaky as minutes began to feel like hours as the explosions went on, dying down to only the sound of muffled gunfire before that eventually died down as well. 

He wondered if whatever caused the commotion outside had been killed or wounded before the door to the center opened and he began his act, his terror not needing to be fake as the sound of heavy power armor echoed through the chamber. 

“Keep your safeties off,” a man’s voice rang out. 

“Righty-o!” a woman’s lighter voice followed behind. There were more footsteps following after them, too many for him to get an idea of how many people there really were. 

“Surprised you didn’t consider taking parts off that assaultron,” another woman’s voice sounded off. 

“Like I said, it was an older model. If we didn’t use it against those gunners, I’d probably just take the armor plating and even then, I’d have to repair the lot.” 

“Hold up!” 

Harvey cursed loudly as he saw the group of six come into the main area. Right off the bat, he noticed how odd some of them looked. The man with a half-burnt face, leather jacket, vault suit, and an eyepatch, a large man in power armor, an intimidating-looking man in a dark black coat, a fourth man in some sort of combat armor and a strange orange jumpsuit, a woman in dark reds carrying a backpack, and a particularly tall woman in a dark blue, almost black uniform contrasting ginger hair. It was odd since most he had to try and trick didn’t come around in such a large group. 

“Jesus. Shit. They’re gonna die,” he said, getting right into his act. 

“Oh shit,” the man in the combat armor whispered as the six people came closer. 

“What happened to you?” the man with a half-burnt face asked, lowering his rifle. Perfect. Maybe this would be enough for those Raiders for a while. He hated this job. 

“Raiders, that's what. Those bastards have my family. You... you gotta help me. Please.”

“Are you okay?” The red-haired woman asked, stepping forward. Her voice was the same one that proclaimed about that assaultron, he noted. 

“Hell, I've seen better days, but it's my family I'm really worried about. Once those Raiders realize I'm gone… I don't even want to think about what they'll do to them. God, you've got to help me.” He knew just from the look on both of their faces and the faces of the other woman and the man in power armor he already had their sympathies. 

“Easy, citizen. Tell us what happened,” the man in power armor said, his voice stern but obviously trying to calm Harvey. If it didn’t mean the act would be given up, he’d try to warn them not to off for it. 

“They fooled us... big time,” Harvey began. “My family and I ran into some traders a while back... told us they knew a safe settlement... at Nuka-World. But when we got there… Found out they were Raiders the whole time, just stringing us along.” 

He barely noticed the two women getting the other one’s backpack down and digging through it, more focusing on trying to make his story all the more believable.

“I managed to escape, but my wife and son are still back there. I wanted to get some help and go back for them, but didn't count on taking a bullet.”

“Let us help you first, we have stimpaks,” the red-head offered, holding one up to show him before moving closer. Panic went through him. Of course, why didn’t he count on a large group of people traveling through the Wastelands having stimpaks!? 

“No, no... I'll be fine. Save it for my wife and kid, for Lisa and Cody.” The moment the words left his mouth he already knew his mistake as the man in the black coat tilted his head without changing expression and the women stared at him confused. 

“No really. We have enough. Take it. Please,” the woman who had the backpack said, about the take the stimpak from the first woman and use it on him as the man in black said out loud, 

“You are injured, yet are refusing to heal yourself. Your logic does not seem sound.” 

Dammit, not only did some of these people seem to be more perceptive than what was counted on, some of them were just too damn nice. 

“Damn it. Look... you got me. I ain't injured, okay? I just can't do this anymore. The Raiders back at Nuka-World put me up to this. They lure people in and they kill 'em for fun, and I'm done doing their dirty work. Let 'em find me and do what they want,” he explained, trying to not look any of them in the eye as he stood up. Oh, he’d have to go back despite his words. After all, when the last guy tried to escape… 

“Why are you helping them, then?” The man in combat armor sneered, already sounding betrayed and angry. 

“Besides not wanting to die, I'm not the only one they got stuck under their thumb. If I don't pull through, their lives are at stake just like mine.” He found himself a bit more frantic now, scared of one of these people doing him in for his act before the raiders got to him. “I figure what's some stranger's life compared to those of people I know and care about…” 

“Let us help. We’ll go face them. You don't have to die,” the man with the half-burnt face offered, giving a soft lopsided smile. “We were on our way to look through Nuka World anyway.” Harvey found himself blinking as he looked up to see the man’s face again then to the others, all of them to his surprise nodding. 

“Are you... you're serious? Just be warned, this ain't no walk in the park.” 

“Affirmative,” said the man in power armor. 

“How many raiders are there?” the red-haired woman asked, standing back up and placing a hand on her hip. 

“About two hundred, maybe even more. They’re in three different groups that work together, not to mention the big boss and his right-hand man.” 

“Two hundred?” The entire group looked at each other before the one in the black coat said, almost amusingly “We can take them.” 

“For once, I agree with Xander. I mean, between all of us, we’ve, what? Taken out at least a few hundred raiders ourselves by this point? What’s two hundred more in one place for all six of us when just two of us can clear out a place like D.B. Technical High School?” the man with the half-burnt face shrugged. If it wasn’t for the fact that he knew what these raiders back in Nuka-World was like, Harvey would almost be impressed by the group’s confidence. 

“Well, here. Take this password and find the office with the control terminal. Power up those rails, and you can see for yourself,” he said, fishing the piece of paper with the said password out of his pockets. “The fastest way to get to Nuka-World is to take the Nuka-Express, but I shut it down to help sell my story. Makes it more believable if I say I'm trying to keep the Raiders at bay. Find the control terminal in the office to power it back up…” He paused, looking at all six of them, especially the two women who still kept their eyes on him before he added, “And once you're on your way, be careful.” 

He took a step back before walking around and away from them towards the door, already the guilt flooding in his chest as he heard their footsteps head towards the terminal. It was bad enough that some of them were decent folk, but for all of them to be willing to head there regardless of what he had just told them, it made him hate the job even more. 

Good folk like them shouldn’t have to suffer through the Gauntlet. 


	16. The Gauntlet... And Results

“.... Well, this sucks.” 

Gage couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath as he watched the new people finish the first room. Six people, six turrets, it was easy to work out how that played out. He had to admit, this was one of the few groups that had some smarts about them, mostly just from the fact they came in a group, to begin with. 

What really caught his attention about them was just how… odd they seemed to be together. First off, there were clearly two leaders. The man in the power armor, some Brotherhood big shot named ‘Dance’ from what he got as he and the other raiders watched the screens, and the man in the vault suit with a half-burnt face named ‘Erik’. He wondered what the story was behind that one. The man in combat armor and the woman with the backpack were Brotherhood shots too, most likely answering to the Dance guy, while the man in black and the tall red-headed girl seemed to more follow the vault guy. 

“Why would they waste perfectly good tech like this!” said the tall woman, gesturing towards the remains of the turrets. Some of the other raiders laughed, others jeered, Gage just merely raised a brow as she continued. “I mean look at it! You could make a decent Mr. Gusty with this stuff and what do they do?! Simple turrets for this sick game! What the hell!? It’s good tech!” So she was the robot expert it seemed….

“Oh calm down, I’m sure there’s more tech to gather after this to build a dozen Mr. Gustys,” the Brotherhood Knight huffed. If Gage was right, his name was ‘Rhys’ or something before some of the raiders booed at the girl picking up some of the parts of the turrets. Gage didn’t have much of an eye for tech himself, but even he knew to recognize some seriously sweet goods she picked out from them. 

“Song, Rhys has a point. If the Raiders were smart enough to hack that terminal and set this part up, there’s probably a few more turrets and robots ahead.” Gage was sure the other woman was named ‘Hayleen’ or something similar as she spoke. He gave her some props already, she wasn’t wrong. 

“Judging by this Gaunlet, I’m sure any robots would be in rather a poor condition.” The man in black scared Gage already, maybe it was the emotionless voice or the fact that there didn’t seem to be a consistent name for him. It kept changed between ‘X,’ ‘X6,’ and ‘Xander.’

“You can try and rework and repair any of them after we’re done with this,” Erik pointed out as they went into the next room. 

The trap room was not made for someone in power armor like Dance, and with their numbers, surely someone was bound to set off a trap…

“Rhys,” Dance called out. 

“On it, Sir!” 

Apparently Rhys was capable of sneaking and disarming the traps. Gage huffed as Redeye made clear of his annoyance as the group placed the trap remains in that backpack of Hayleen. 

“Admirable, Knight,” X said. Rhys clearly didn’t trust this man, making the raider watching all the more convinced that this group was of two smaller groups working together as the raiders watched the six come across the three red doors. 

“Alright, who has decent luck among us?” Erik shouted out. By now, Gage had been expecting some fo the raiders to be annoyed by how easy this group was going, but surprisingly, it seemed like the three groups’ members were placing bets on which of the six would end up living and, even more quietly, as the new Overboss. 

“Curie has Paladin Dance at a score of seven in luck back at the Rocket,” the Song girl spoke up. 

“I see it comes to me then,” X said, moving forward. “Before we left, Miss Curie placed me at a score of eight.” 

“While my power armor would withstand any traps that could be behind these doors, feel free to risk yourself, courser,” the Paladin huffed. 

“Of course.” 

And it seemed that whatever those scores they had been talking about meant, there was some truth to it as X opened the right door. Gage could actually feel Cotler stewing in his anger at how…. Simple this all seemed to be for the group. 

Then the radiation room. Well, seemed there was going to be some trouble for them as almost all of them started coughing except for the Paladin. 

“Get the to door at the end, one of you try to pick the lock! I’ll see if I can find the key just in case!” he yelled out, the other five racing towards the head. Hayleen was the one picking at the lock while Dance went around the room looking for that rusty key, The girl ended up opening the door first, the Paladin rushing after the five as they all escaped the room and quickly slammed the door behind them. 

“How much Radaway you got in that sack, Haylen?” Oh, so he was thinking of that girl’s name wrong then. Oh well, Gage figured. He had still been close enough. 

“Enough for a rad storm,” she answered, handing one off to each of them. “I didn’t know synths took radiation damage.” 

“Only Gen ones and twos,” X corrected. “Us Gen threes do try to avoid areas of radiation at all costs.” 

“God, that almost felt like burning…” Song whimpered before Erik held onto to her. 

“Easy, poppet, easy.” 

Gage watched on, a slight frown on his face as he watched the scene. It reminded him of his own family, decades ago, and how they’d comfort each other after a Raider attack. A part of his chest felt… weird before he growled at himself, mentally shaking his head clear. No, he left that behind. That was an easy way to get killed here. 

Song was the one who looked into the terminal for the next room, and though he couldn’t see it, Gage could be she was frowning. 

“Report?” Dance called out. 

“Turrets. Ten of them by the looks of it. Deactivated for some reason….” 

“I’m called some sort of trap,” Erik spoke up. 

A loud shot rang out, everyone’s attention, from the other five people in the group to the raiders watching the screen, looked at Rhys who had his gun up towards the monkey trap. RedEye of course made his displeasure clear, but Gage couldn’t hide the laugh. It was clear from the man’s posture that he was one of those types that got creeped out by those things. 

“... Pretty sure I just disabled it,” Rhys muttered as he set his gun down. 

“I’m going to take it that getting you a Jangles the Moon Monkey would be a bad idea,” Erik chuckled. 

“Don’t even joke about that. Those things are creepier than these two synths…” 

“Hey, it’s fine Rhys. We all have that one thing.” 

“Does anyone actually like those monkeys?” Song asked. 

“Dogmeat and the pups,” Dance answered. 

“Point made.” 

Why wasn’t Gage surprised the next two rooms were easy for them? Or that the Song girl took the remains of the alien turret and hacked the robots in the areas as the group gathered up the traps.

“She’s really taking that?” he heard Cotler mutter behind him. 

“I think it’s been established that she’s their tech person.” 

The gas room was almost like the radiation room, only this time Song took care of hacking into the computer while the rest of the group took care of the radroaches. The gas seemed to have left a bad effect on Song though, the girl clinging close to Dance this time as her walk seemed unsteady. 

“Song?” Erik asked, reaching for her. 

“Great. Radiation makes it feel like your burning and… this gas… God, it smelled just like it when the scientists…” Gage’s eye narrowed before Song stopped talking. Clearly there was a story there he didn’t know much of yet either. 

“We got more bugs in the next room!” Rhys called out, him, X, and Haylen already setting to shooting the ant swarms before the Paladin, Erik, and Song joined in. Of course it was quick work for that lot, no surprise there. 

Now the Home Stretch... Gage was interested to see how that would turn out. 

As he found out, the group might be uneasy with each other, but there was enough trust there to want to keep each other alive. The Paladin used that damn power armor to some good use to shield the others, and Gage was started to wonder if they just invited some pro-grade snipers into the Gaunlet. He wasn’t sure which of them kept getting their aim right, but the accuracy was damn scary. Of course, he couldn’t see the complete end of it the moment the alarm was sounded off and Cotler needed to be in that damned rigged armor. 

“You got me wired up yet, Gage?” the cocky bastard asked, still convinced that he was going to win this.

“Yeah, boss.”

“Finally. Now, go shut off that damn alarm.”

“All right, I'm on it.” 

“Hmph. Now where…” as Gage turned off the alarm, he watched as all six came into view, and looked upon the scene. It was almost hilarious to watch of their reactions. The Brotherhood folk seemed almost in disbelief and clearly not amused, he still couldn’t read X’s facial features, Song wasn’t even looking at Cotler, instead at the cola cars, no doubt thinking of some use for them, and then Erik…. 

Gage was convinced Erik would be the better Overboss judging by the absolute bored expression the man was making at Cotler before making a rude gesture. 

“Get on with it, you teapot!” 

“What!?” 

Gage’s eyes widen as Cotler started yelling at the man in the vault suit, Erik just continuing to look bored before hitting the intercom button. And so the plan began. He was already counting on all of them being involved in the fight, though the question of who had the accuracy from before proved… more unsettling. 

“Gage?! What the hell just happened!?” 

“You saw it! We all saw it! Colter’s dead! We’ve got ourselves a new Overboss-” Gage looked up and found that Erik hadn’t been the one to fire the water pistol. 

It had been Song, who was still in the doorway while the other five had taken their own positions to use the cola cars to their advantage. 

“But which one, Gage!? There’s six of them!” 

“Excuse me!?” All eyes turned to Erik, who was sneering at all of the raiders. “There isn’t any ‘Overboss,’ we just killed him. As a team. Which apparently, none of you could figure out to do with your own, much bigger teams, before now. You all should be ashamed of not being able to solve your own problem without using someone.” 

Gage frowned heavily, glaring at the tone he was using. Was this man… seriously trying to parent them?! 

“Oh, oh! Question!” Song yelled out, walking over to be with the others and standing on her tiptoes, her hand raised in the air. “Death, or settlement life?” 

Silence filled the air. 

“I repeat, death or settlement life? Because after that hell,” Song pointed towards the way back through the Gaunlet. “The idea of starting a way to reform you all seems less appealing than just sending you all through your own hell!” 

Gage sneered, already trying to think of how to save the situation until Erik spoke up once more, this time the tone seemingly… amused. And it worried Gage. 

“Hey, Paladin Danse, since the idea of the Brotherhood coming over here was to look for tech while the Minutemen tried to make this place a decent settlement, the whole ‘Overboss’ thing can be a team effort between us six until we get things sorted out here?” 

“I believe that plan sounds a lot more outstanding than what these wastes were thinking.” 

“Great! So, not only do we solve your asshole of a boss problem, but we also solve your ‘who’s the next boss’ problem! Now  _ let us out _ .” Erik growled, gripping his assault rifle in his hands tightly. “ _ And let’s talk. _ ” 


	17. Gage 'Onboard' And The Leaders

“So, I know this looks bad…” Gage began as the seven of them took their... Seats? Places? At Fizzietop Mountain’s suite. Erik held a hand up, interrupting him. 

“First off, proper introduction. I’m Erik Valentine, General of the Commonwealth Minutemen.” Gage already felt even more dread in his gut. No, it wasn’t just enough the Song girl talked about reforming these raiders, they had the damn leader of the Minutemen among them now! “This is Paladin Danse, yes, I know, the name sounds a bit funny, but it’s spelled D-a-n-s-e, not d-a-n-c-e, I know, I checked, of the Brotherhood, along with Knight Rhys and Scribe Haylen.” Erik directed a hand to each of the people as he said their names, Gage feeling uncomfortable under their glares. 

“This is Song Valentine, my granddaughter.” 

Wait, granddaughter? She looked barely ten years Erik’s junior! It was the most he could note of her in the current moment before Erik snapped his fingers to get the raider’s attention once more. 

“It’s a long story,” Erik huffed before gesturing to the man in black. “And this is X6-88, a courser from the Institute that insists I’m its future despite my arguments against them. I prefer to call him ‘Xander’ but he doesn’t like the name itself.” 

“And you are?” Song said, gesturing a hand at Gage. 

“Porter Gage, and I’m telling you that reforming these raiders isn’t going to happen.” 

“Hey, Song’s so far been the only one for that plan.” A part of Gage was unable to hide the relief that went through him… only to tense back up when Erik continued with, “Although it is tempting. Very tempting. Now, start talking about what these three gangs are like and we’ll see what we can work with.” 

“You’re joking,” Gage started before looking at the group’s expressions and sighing a bit. He was here, at the suite, with more guns against him than he could ever hope to deal with. “Yeah, all right... The Disciples like violence. The bloodier, the better. Their headquarters are pretty close to this suite. They’re led by Nisha, with Dixie and Savoy as her right hands.” He noticed with his one good eye that Song had popped into a holotape into her pipboy, no doubt recording everything he was saying. 

“The Pack... Hell, I don't know. They follow whoever they think is the strongest. Show some teeth, I guess if you really that determined to get them on your side. Maxson leads them right now.”   
  
“And the Operators?” Erik asked, his expression neutral as he idly checked his gun. 

“In it mostly for the money. They get promised caps, they'll listen to you,” Gage answered. “They’re led by Mags and Willian Black, brother and sister. Lizzie Wyath does some chemistry stuff for them, so she’s also important in that crowd.” 

“So, more mercenary than raider then.” Erik’s brows raised up, the vault dweller looking over at the others, especially X6’s assessment of the last group mentioned. 

“I’d say more like a trigger gang in Goodneighbor than a mercenary group like the Gunners, but still… we still have might have a chance one that lot,” Erik mused. Gage felt himself sweating as the group seemed to be planning without him. He needed to get at least two of these people under some control…   
  
“I’d suggest two of us each go and ‘talk’ with the leaders of these three gangs. Gather up back here once we’re done and do the planning from there,” Danse suggested, Rhys and Haylen both looking at each other. Rhys spoke up next, gesturing towards Gage. 

“What about him?”    
  
“I actually thought we’d all go together through each of the headquarters of these gangs,” Erik said, ignoring the knight’s question as he looked over at the paladin. “While two of us talk to the leader, the rest could investigate the headquarters and find anything we can use on them.” That one blue eye turned to look down at Gage, the raider finding himself shivering. 

“As for Gage here, he’ll come along with us. Could pay to let the raider bosses have a familiar face around.”    
  
He did not like the sound of that! 

* * *

**The Disciples**

“Come on, girl, you know we should this place! Not some lil greenies Gage dragged in!” 

Nisha counted herself lucky to have spotted the six members of what many of the raiders in Nuka World were already calling ‘The Overboss Gang’ coming through the doors with Gage by their side. It’d almost be amusing how unsure Gage looked if it wasn’t for the conversation Dixie decided to have right now. She has to get that under control first.    
  
“We're giving him a second chance. Gage screws this up, he knows we'll skin him alive. So shut up and be patient,” she warned, her own brown eyes under her helmet giving a pointed look to the other woman. But of course Dixie didn’t get the full hint in her tone.    
  
“What about you big guy? Nothing to say on the matter?” she said as she looked over to Savoy. Nisha gave the man credit for his honesty on the whole manner.    
  
“As long as they don’t get in my way... don’t much care.” 

“Yeah, figured as much.”

Nisha looked over to see the small group coming closer to them, some of them already splitting ways to no doubt investigate the rest of her people. She needed to get Savoy and Dixie out to keep an eye on them quickly.    
  
“Both of you just get out of here. And make sure the others get the message,” she said, the two finally looking over to mainly the two members of the Overboss gang with pipboys and Gage as they approached. Finally, those two got up and left, Savoy following after the two less armor Brotherhood members while Dixie seemed to have called to keep an eye on the Brotherhood paladin and the man in the black coat. Nisha took the time to also notice how the man in the vault suit watched her own members follow his. 

“So, you’re Gage’s little pet projects,” she started, taking some joy in Gage’s uncomfortableness. If she recalled the names that were being said in the Gaunlet, the man was ‘Erik Valentine’ and the redhead with him and Gage was ‘Song.’ 

“And what are you? His grandma?” Erik snarked back. Well, it didn’t leave too much for Nisha to wonder how he got so badly damaged in the face. 

“Heh. If I was, I would've slit that little suckup's throat a long time ago,” was her own reply, her gaze switching between Erik and Gage from under her mask as she continued to talk as if the man wasn’t here himself. “Gage will never be one of us. He's a failure. He's lucky we're giving him a second chance.” 

“He’s not a failure.” Nisha blinked for a moment, finally turning her attention fully on Song. She had to admit, the girl was rather pretty. Maybe if she had more muscle to her, she could have been intimidating with her height, be actual raider material. It would have made it look more like Gage was the Overboss with two tall bodyguards at that point… But right now, Song crossing her arms in disapproval at Nisha’s words only made her want to laugh and cut the girl. “He managed to fix the mistake and got the rest of you to still listen, didn’t he? If anyone a failure-” 

“Song,” Erik’s tone snapped to the two women’s attention back to him. Nisha sneered at the girl before she continued with what she had been going to say before getting interrupted. 

“Everyone knows we all wanted Colter dead. 'Course if I had my way, it would have been a slow, painful process. But whatever. Let's get this meet and greet over with. I'm Nisha. I lead the Disciples. We've only got one rule around here, and that's keeping the peace of this... alliance.” She let herself give a sigh, keeping a close eye on the one blue eye Erik looked at her with as one of his brows raised up. “Otherwise, the way we see it, this world stopped caring about rules the moment people started dropping bombs on one another.” This seemed to make a scowl on Erik’s face. Clearly, he didn’t share that view. Nisha eyed Gage carefully, only to find that the shorter man of the two looked scared of the one in the vault suit than her. Instead of Erik, it was Song that spoke up once more. 

“This world needs rules. Otherwise, we'll never recover,” she said, looking almost… disappointed. Nisha found herself holding back a sneer in response, resisting the urge to just get rid of the girl altogether. 

“Rules are dangerous because people start to trust them. They make you think you're safe, but once you turn your back... you're dead,” she responded back, crossing her arms to mimic Song’s posture. “Colter thought some sort of rule or code made him untouchable... but he found out he was wrong... the hard way.” Just a little bit more… and she could reach her knife in her holster… “Although, I could give him a little credit. He built the Gauntlet after all.”

“What do you mean by ‘keeping the peace?’” Erik interrupted. Nisha almost took a step back, seeing how the taller man had taken a step forward towards her, invading her own personal space. She was quiet for a brief moment, trying to calculate her next possible move should a fight break out, before realizing through his tense shoulders and piercing gaze, Erik was warning her from crossing the line that had been set out the moment the conversation began. 

“It means do what you want, but don't get caught. The last thing I need is the Operators and Pack breathing down my neck.” She was careful in her answer. Forget Gage, she needed to keep an eye on this man more than guess what Gage was doing behind the scenes. “We can take either of 'em one on one, but I don't like my odds when it comes to double duty. So, keep the peace. It's the only rule we need.” 

“How many lives has this Gauntlet claimed?” was Erik’s next question as Gage began to pull him back a bit from Nisha. The leader of the Disciples never knew she could ever feel so  _ grateful _ for anything Gage did. 

“Who's counting?” she huffed, more comfortable with them back at an easier distance. “ It's at least enough to keep the traders busy. We like to send them in to clean out the bodies whenever things get ripe in there. They don't always make it out alive, of course. The Gauntlet never sleeps.” She could practically feel the fury from Song at this point and the overall concern from inside Gage. She could only question on if it was for her, these two with him, or himself if he was going to be in this mess. 

“That child plaything gets shut down. The sooner the better,” Erik growled lowly. “Too dangerous.” 

“Dangerous? People are dangerous. That thing's child's play. Just a bunch of traps and critters.” It was taking all she could to hide her anger, already one of her fists clenching tightly. Her Disciples worked hard on the creativity that was the present Gaunlet, and now this guy was just going to have it shut down because it was ‘dangerous!?’ “Let's just hope Gage is right about you,” she growled back. “He made a lot of promises to get us here, and never followed through. So you better not screw this up because I'm not about to tolerate another round of bullshit.” 

For a moment, it seemed almost as if the two were glaring at each other, seeing which one would back down first from their positions. 

“We’re going to do things our way, whether you approve or not,” Erik sounded far too confident in the matter. Nisha finally let the sneer grow back on her face as he added. “You’re either going to be with us, or against in this matter. It’s pretty clear this is a case of no in-between,  _ Nisha _ .” The way he said her name almost set her blood on fire with rage. He was practically asking for his throat to get cut. 

“Oh yeah? I just have a few things for you to consider before you go off and do things ‘your way.’ You see, the Disciples don't make empty threats, we make good on them.” She let a loud breath exit through her nose. “We aren't swayed by caps like those spoiled brats obsessed with their hair, or those savage animals who can't behave in public. Fuck this up, and I will kill you. Although, I admit I have even better plans for Gage.” Just barely of her view, Gage took a step back, keeping Song behind him already as he was looking at the two of them. 

“But…” she began. “If you support us and keep your promises like a good, little Overboss, we back you, you get to live, and everybody wins.” 

“I don't make promises, and you'll do what I say,” he said lowly. If Nisha was a younger woman, she sure she would have been charmed by his confidence and attitude, and if not that, then certainly the fire and pure, honest threat in his eyes. But she was experienced enough to know what the threat was… ‘ _ the line was already crossed. _ ’ Somehow… she had to save this arrangement now. 

“Looks like you're already a step above Colter. I'll see how this plays out... for now… But, if you change your tune and decide to play nice…” she trailed off for a moment, looking towards Song this time. The girl already was glaring from behind Gage, her fists clenched as tightly as her own. “There's no shortage of work around here, so if you're looking to prove you've got what it takes... you know where to find me.” 

With that, she quickly headed back to her own room, waiting for Dixie and Savoy to report back to her… In the meantime, she also had to get rid of this light warmth that she felt as she felt Erik’s glare upon her.

* * *

**The Operators**

“Sorry, Mags. All anyone else turned up so far is that those two got those Pip-Boys on their arms.”

“So at least one of our new Overbosses is a vault dweller.” Mags hadn’t meant to say it out loud as she thought over that fact. There were too many pieces to this puzzle to figure out at the moment. One on hand, they  _ knew _ that three of the six were Brotherhood, which had become the most comforting thing in the situation. They at least knew for sure were three of the six in the Overboss gang stood. It wasn’t in their favor but at least they still  _ knew _ . The other three seemed to be a complete mystery though. No one had any idea where the man in the black coat came from, the redheaded girl barely had anymore more than just the pip-boy, and the one she was very sure was a vault dweller, in no doubt due to his vault suit and the pip-boy combined, but they knew at least he was a Minuteman. 

“Or iced a vault dweller,” William pointed out. 

“Not likely,” Mags pointed out right back. “Hmm. You can go,” she said to the man that had delivered the news, noticing just in time to notice the very group walking into the parlor with Gage. She had to admit, there was some… pity to the other raider. His face looked pale compared to earlier, almost like he had been forced to bite off more than he could chew. Oh well. He was the one who got them in this whole mess to begin with. 

“Mags and William Black, I presume. Name’s Erik Valentine.” The very man with the burns, vault suit, and pip-boy they had been talking about walked up to them as the others. Huh, she already liked him. Usually, it was herself that had to point back to William in a conversation, usually half-way through to give him time to be a second pair of ears, but Erik had already taken notice of him staying while the other members of the Overboss gang seemed to go through exploring the hideout, aside from Gage who remained by Erik’s side. Even that last part alone she felt she had to give some credit for. 

“You’d be right to. Well. I suppose we all owe you for putting down Colter,” she began, placing a hand on her hip as she had to look up to meet his eye. 

“Man was an idiot. Made us all look bad,” William put in. He didn’t sound impressed at being spotted before he could keep an eye on the others. 

“Heh. A clown stuck in his own little car,” she added on, looking back at William with a light smile before turning back to Erik. “I guess we can take some solace in the fact that someone finally gave him what he deserved. I want to know. What did you feel as you and the others did it? When you brought that walking pile of human garbage to his knees?” 

“Didn’t care much for him,” Erik answered, mimicking her own stance as he looked down at her. “Was a bit preoccupied with making sure the attack plan we had was going well enough… and if we’re continuing to being honest, a bit of pride at Song’s aim with that water pistol.” 

“I’ll admit… it was quite impressive,” Mags mentioned, noting mentally the spark that momentarily lit in Erik’s gaze as her praising the redhead. Ah, so  _ that _ was how to get on the man’s good side. “Regardless, Gage's decree, and your decision in the Gaunlet, means that you and the others are the new Overbosses. I suppose we can only hope you work out better than the last one. As you know, I’m Mags, this is my brother William-” 

“Pleasure,” William nodded, earning one in return from Erik. Maybe it was just the light, but Gage seemed to look a bit more relieved as the conversation seemed to move smoothly so far. 

“Along with our co-conspirator Lizzie, we run this crew. Call ourselves the Operators. You'll come to understand soon enough that we are the only gang you should be backing around here. Because we're the only ones who see this place for what it is. A temple. A testament to the only thing that matters in this world,” she said, resisting a bit of a smirk on her face as Erik raised a brow. 

“Let me guess, making money.” 

Oh yes, she liked this Overboss much better than Colter. 

“Exactly. Caps. This place was built for the sole purpose of taking caps out of the pockets of fools,” she explained. “We only joined Gage and Colter's little menagerie in order to restore it to that goal…though by somewhat more cutthroat methods than I expect its founders intended.” 

William gave in to his own sneer though, but at least it allowed her to fall back to her neutral voice and tone as he added, “Instead Colter had us sitting on our asses for the better part of a year while he lived large in his damn mountaintop.”

She quickly made sure to get back on full track. 

“And that means if you're going to be in charge around here, we'd like some assurances that you intend to bring this place back to its true purpose,” she ended with, giving a barely visible smile to Erik. “And that we're going to get back to robbing folks of their fucking money.”

Erik crossed his arms, the meaning of the motion not lost on Mags. “My idea of how this place can be used for money might be a shot off different from your idea of how to make it.” Mags was grateful she was given time to put her neutral tone and face back on, otherwise, she would have been already revealing the multiple ways she was thinking of killing him. 

“Let me guess, Song’s rehabilitation talk back in the Gauntlet.” She already knew she was right by how the corner of his mouth twitched. 

“It’d be a shame if word spread out across the Commonwealth about Nuka World being filled with raiders. Would put quite a damper on the number of caps coming in,” Erik smirked. Mags swore she could hear William started to build up his rage to run at him. He probably would have if she hadn’t held her hand up in front of him. 

“On the other hand… if they heard of Nuka Town being reformed, with its other parts being used to help make it into one of the largest settlements in the area… imagine the number of traders, caravans, and people from even all the way to Far Harbor would come to this place. With all their caps.” Erik tilted his head to the side, still smirking at her. “Tell me, Mags, does it  _ really  _ matter how your folks get those caps?” 

She stared back up at his smirk, thinking on how to get this really in her favor. 

“Take your time on the matter,” Erik said, actually  _ patting _ her on the head to her shock. “It isn’t just yourself you’re getting those caps for after all.” 

When he and Gage left, along with the others, she wasn’t aware as she still registered the gesture he had just given her. 

* * *

**The Pack**

“Oh, look at you!” 

Mason had just dismissed the Pack member that had come up to him to see the six members of the Overboss group at the entrance, the redhead of them bending down and petting one of the dogs they had wandering around. He gave an amused huff as the man in the vault suit smiled at her and patted her head as she was distracted by the dog. The dark-haired man said something to the guy in the Brotherhood armor, something that made Mason already not like the group. Cotler was into that damn metal stuff too. Mason let his hazel eyes watch the girl continue to be amazed by the animals and concerned at the slaves before he rolled his eyes and looked to the vault guy and Gage as they walked up.

“So, you’re Mason…” was what he was greeted with. “Name’s Erik Valentine.” Mason looked at him from his seat, raising a red eyebrow. 

“Now that I get a closer look at you... not sure I'm buying this new Overboss thing,” he said. It was a complete lie. The only thing that didn’t scream as ‘Alpha’ with Erik was the vault suit and pip-boy, and even then the dark jacket with the torn sleeve didn’t scream ‘inviting’ either. Erik reminded Mason of one of the previous Alpha, tall, dark-haired, and one-eyed. Although the scars and burns were quite a hell of a difference. And unlike Brutus, Erik didn’t rise to his bait, the man just raising a brow. 

“As long as you care about yourself, you'll do what we tell you,” was his mere response. 

Mason grinned. Oh yes, an Alpha indeed! 

“Ha! You might make it out of here alive after all,” he laughed, taking Erik’s hand when the other extended it. He wished he could capture the confused and utter baffled expression on Gage’s face. Seems like the conversation with the other gang leaders didn’t go so well. “Name's Mason. The Pack's Alpha. This here's our side of town. You might be Overboss - for now. But I'm the boss of the Pack. And it's going to stay that way. Long as you don't go forgetting that, we're gonna be fine.” 

It only amused him more when Erik rolled his eyes. 

“I could care less if you’re the Pack’s leader, Mason. Just as long as you’re willing to listen and think on some of the ideas that have been coming up.” 

“I like you already,” he laughed. “Look. It ain't like anyone's broke up about Colter. Just figured on his replacement being... Well, different.” Certainly not a group containing six people. “So what’s the deal between you six? Why is it just you coming up to me and not the whole group?” 

“Oh finally, great to have you get right to the point,” Erik laughed right back at him. “Let’s just say I’m the one people want to make friendly with. And it helps that while one of us talks to the gangs’ leaders the other get a glimpse of how the gang itself works elsewhere. Helps get a clearer picture of what the mess Gage got us all in.” 

Mason hummed, nodding his head slowly. So Erik was the guy to get along with and he knew it? Can’t say he was disappointed.

“After that, we’re going for big plans around here,” Erik finished. 

“Maybe you're the real deal. But we thought Colter was the real deal, too. And he's laying in a pool of his own blood. Don't get me wrong. Colter was definitely Overboss. Not a man to mess with. And things were good in the beginning. Real good. But that was a year ago. Then Colter went soft. Wanted to ‘take stock in what we achieved,’” Mason said with a growl towards the end. 

“So what is it you want most from this gig?” 

“Caps. Action. Something! Anything that's more than the sitting around we been doing for the last year!”

Erik’s hum at his answer almost annoyed Mason. 

“Well, at least we’ll know the Pack will be the easiest to please around here.” 

“Look. Let's get back to the main question. You going to do right by the Pack?” Mason said, realizing that while they had been on topic, they had drifted from the main point. “I hear you've been talking to the other gangs.” He didn’t hide the snarl in his voice, once more just earning a smirk from Erik. 

“Just be a good dog and do what you're told, or you'll be put down.” 

“Mason paused at Erik’s words, his eyes widening. He instinctively took a step back before remembering the rest of the Pack could be watching. 

“Woah there, boss. Not in front of my guys, alright? You got enough to worry about without a dominance struggle inside the Pack to deal with,” he explained, though taking a quick peak at Gage, the smaller man was leaning away from Erik and looking the most uncomfortable out of all of them. It suddenly occurred to the Alpha that Gage might have been forced to tag along for these meetings. Once more, he found himself some mad respect brewing for Erik at least. 

“You know what? ...I think we're not so different me and you,” he continued the moment he looked back at Erik. He leaned over to one of the chests near his chair, pulling out a brightly colored rifle. When was the last time he ever had pulled out ‘Problem Solver?’ He decided to not think too much about it as he handed it over to Erik. 

He noted how Erik carried the rifle, the worn hands tracing over parts of the gun’s build, and holding it carefully as that one blue eye inspected it. Erik let out a low whistle the moment he looked at the bullets. 

“You might become one of Song’s favorites if you got blueprints to some of these parts, Mason,” Erik commented as he looked back up at the redheaded leader. Mason grinned with pride. He didn’t fully understand it, but by the man’s tone, it was clearly meant for praise. 

“That’s the redhead with the tech talk, right?” 

“Yep, she’s my grandbaby.” The smirk Erik was giving was all too much of a warning.

Oh.  _ Oooooh shit. _ All the thought of offering to give the woman pups that could be strong as any Pack member but have her clear brains to bear went straight out the window. Despite what Mags and Nisha thought on him, Mason was not stupid. One doesn’t take control of the pack and stay there just by brute strength alone. 

“Well,” he said, mentally punching himself in the head, “Glad to know there’ll be respect with two of you six.”


	18. Chapter 18

Song stopped the holotape as it ended, taking it out of her pipboy and placing it with the others on the table. Danse stood over Erik, his eyes concentrated on the map of Nuka World. 

“We’re already planning on clearing the other parts of this park?” the Paladin asked, raised a brow as Erik made a few marks on the maps. 

“Sort of. I want to get this part secured as a settlement part and out of the raiders’ hands before we move forward,” Erik explained before looking over at where the holotapes were. “... What do you think, Danse? Just get rid of them all or try and keep at least the Operators?”    
  
Song frowned heavily, leaning on the table and holding her head up by her hands. “We’re getting rid of the Disciples either way,” she said lowly before Danse could talk. She flinched a bit as he place a hand on the table near her. His light brown eyes narrowed a bit at the action, feeling Haylen’s eyes on them observing the synth as well before the Paladin turned to Erik. 

“I wouldn’t think the Operators were suitable to stay either judging by the holotapes,” he answered. 

“And the Pack?” 

“I’d only trust that gang just from how loyal their members are to each other at least… and even then, that’s assuming they’re just not excellent at hiding bodies and destroying the evidence of their actions,” he almost sneered. “Where’s the raider?” Danse added, looking around for Gage. 

“I had X6 and asked Rhys to go with him to the meeting with the gang leaders, see if we can reach some peace. I already told them the Disciples don’t live out of all of these guys,” Erik explained, not meeting Danse’s eyes. 

Danse remained silent for a moment before looking at the map. He eyed the locations before tapping a southern section, near where the General had stabbed a knife to the station. “Depending on if we don't reform the other raider gangs, positioning the Minutemen troops here for a battle would be ideal, given the easy transportation.”    
  
Erik nodded, clearly thinking along the same lines. “We could also use it and the cleaned up on that leads to that Gauntlet as supply lines, especially once we tear that damn thing down and clean up that place a bit.” 

“Imagine all the supplies that could carry!” Song said gleefully, earning a much softer smile from Erik while Danse looked over at her with slight apprehensiveness as she began to ramble on. “Oh, And if we do get to reform the Pack and Operators, imagine how much they could help too! We could help them learn how fulfilling settlement life can be, we could make Nuka World an entire city! Oh, and imagine the tech we could recover from this place for the settlers!” 

Danse’s head snapped to glare at her. “Now see here, synth, that tech is going to be gathered by the Brotherhood as well, this mission isn’t just a Minutemen project-” 

Whatever he was going to say next was interrupted by the sound of guns, the fire rate echoing through the otherwise empty air of the place. Haylen stood up immediately as Song grabbed her rifle and headed towards the lift, the other three behind her. 

**…..**

_ Five Minutes Ago _

“You’re on your last line, Gage,” Nisha sneered, a hand constantly on one of her knives. Gage gripped the table with one hand, the other on his gun. He wasn’t sure which of the six had followed him, but he was aware enough that it wasn’t just him confronting the gang leaders. “What the hell makes you think any of us would agree to these terms?” 

“The Operators are already for agreeing to the terms,” Mags said, her eyes on Nisha’s sneer now directed at her. “We get more caps, we’re not giving up on the chems, and we don’t die.” 

“You honestly think none of us stand a chance against those six? We have whole gangs on our side!” Dixie yelled before Nisha could put her arm out to stop the stabber. 

“If it was just one or two, maybe,” William huffed, leaning against the wall. “But six of those guys, one of them being in power armor, and the fact they can call reinforcements to beat all of us-”    
  
“Even I don’t like those odds,” Mason added. “That Erik guy already got my respect. At least it looks like we’ll finally be doing  _ something _ around here.” 

“They’re already planning on scouting out the outside of the other parks,” Gage revealed. “They were looking at a map and listening to the holotapes when I left to come here.” All the leaders’ heads turned to him, brows raised. 

“Fucking finally,” Mason chuckled. 

“Holotapes?” Nisha’s voice was cold as she realized her side was outnumbered in its opinion. “Suppose that’s what was what the rest of that group was looking for while we were giving the ‘greetings’ talk.” 

“Let’s just say what I caught wind of from what they were listening to, it ain’t good.” Gage paused for a moment, biting the inside of his cheek before he continued. “It’s about the whole ‘don’t get caught’ rule. Those holotapes were the evidence left behind of people from each of the gangs.” 

“Shit,” Dixie hissed under her breath, the small word echoing in the room. Gage slowly nodded, not looking at any of them in particular. 

“They’re also already planning on getting reinforcements in here from the Minutemen,” he added. 

“And I’ll take it, the numbers aren’t on our side,” Mags guessed, letting a harsh breath escape her nose as one of her hands twitched. A small shiver had to be suppressed as Gage nodded, the one-eyed raider having a tight expression on his face. “I believe it rather settles it.” 

“No it doesn’t,” Nisha stabbed her dagger into the table. “Maybe you all haven’t noticed, but the terms aren’t exactly favorable for the Disciples. Getting rid of the Gauntlet, no more blood like we want, getting rid of our ‘decorations’ in our hideout? Aside from living, what benefit is there really for us?” 

“None,” Gage deadpanned, his eyes on her as it finally registered to the Mags that Gage was resisting a smile. Mags held a hand out to her brother, looking around the room they were in now for something. Clearly, something was up now. 

"See," Dixie snarled, "even Gage knows what's up-" 

Nisha held her arm out to stop her. The Disciple's leader stared at Gage, who stared back at her with barely a smile on his face. She reached for the embedded dagger. Her eyes were fixed on Gage. The one-eyed man made no move to raise his gun.

The silence stretched on as they looked at each other.

Mason’s eyes darted around the room, trying to also figure out what else was at play for the fight that was no doubt. 

The silence was finally interrupted by the bullet flying into Nisha’s brains. 

…..

Danse fired into the crowd, the group of four quickly making their way through the Disciples’ quarters and heading to separate ways. Erik and Haylen quickly found cover as Danse took advantage of his power armor being used against the melee weapons of the Disciples. 

“Hyaa!” 

The paladin turned around to shoot at the oncoming attacker, only for the raider to fall dead before he had his gun aim at him. Danse blinked before looking up to see Song on the high bar above. The synth waved down at him with a wide smile… and then promptly sticking her tongue out. Danse frowned, readjusting his gun right as the next bullet zipped past him into the next raider. 

At least he could give  _ some _ trust to her watching his back. 

* * *

Mags watched as the four exited Fizztop Mountain, giving a light grimace at the blood that soaked their shoes. Gage was leaning away from X6, the courser merely standing at the ready. As for Mason, the Alpha was laughing, walking over and patting Erik on the back. 

“Got to hand it to you there, boss! Seeing Nisha and those crazies of hers get gunned down was the most hilarious thing to see after so long of having to deal with her shit!” he laughed, earning a slight grin from Erik. 

“Take it the rest of you agree to the terms given you all haven’t been gunned down?” The Vault Dweller said, adjusting his gun’s aim. 

“You won’t hear any issues from the Pack!” Mason said. “We find any stranglers of the Disciples, we’ll take care of them for you!” 

“Same for the Operators,” Mags confirmed, though she kept her eyes on the guns the group had. “Gage said you called for reinforcements.” 

“It’d be ideal to have more help in holding down Nuka-town while we head out to the power plant,” Danse confirmed, meeting the woman’s eyes. Mags eyed him before raising a brow ever so slightly. 

“Right to the power plant?” 

“Of course!” Song cheered happily. Mags took a moment to notice that the blood splatters on her boots seemed to have only been from her walking through the bodies. “There’s plenty here in Nuka Town already that need power from there to work! And imagine all the attraction we could get from other settlers with all the lights, and just having running power to work better water purifiers, and all the games that are offline right now and the better security we could hook up and that’s not even mentioning how all the animals the Pack has could be used for-” 

As Song rambled on, Mags found herself slowly looking over at the three Brotherhood members with a confused glance. Rhys looked utterly lost, Haylen was just nodding along, and Danse seemed to be the only one who was understanding what the redhead was talking about. X6 seemed to be taking Haylen’s example, nodding along, though Mags wasn’t so sure if he could understand what the girl was saying or not. Mason didn’t even try to hide his confusion as Erik held the proudest smile Mags thought she had ever seen. 

This was going to be a strange new life for them to go on living with, Mags concluded.


	19. Chapter 19

“Ronnie! Great to have you here, of all people!” 

Gage looked over from the map to see an older woman walking up to the group with several Minutemen behind her. 

“Eh... Boss?” he asked, looking at Erik for introductions. The other one-eyed man had a large grin on his face while paying the other no mind. Danse walked up to Ronnie, nodding his head. 

“Shaw, good to have you here,” the Paladin said. Ronnie nodded back with a stern look before Song nearly tackled her in a hug. 

“Ronnie!” This earned a raspy laugh from the older woman as she patted the taller girl on the back. Song hugged onto her tightly before letting go, bouncing on her feet in excitement. Ronnie gave her one last smile before looking to Erik. Gage blinked at the comradery the three were giving each other. His face scrunched up in confusion from trying to understand this odd group.

“Wouldn’t want to miss the party if things go haywire in here, General,” she said. Erik laughed again before gesturing a hand to the woman and looking to Gage and the gang leaders. 

“This tank of a woman is Ronnie Shaw from the Commonwealth Minutemen. She’s physically older than the rest of us, but she’s got enough bite to fit in with the Pack and the strategy-like mind to keep up with the Operators. While we go to get the power-up and running, she’ll be helping make sure things stay in order here in Nukatown. Ronnie, this is our newest roundup Gage, Mags Black and her brother William, the leaders of the Operators, and Mason, the leader of the Pack, the latter of the three which you’ll be getting to know rather well.” 

Gage frowned as he watched Ronnie look over Mags, William, and Mason. He grabbed his gun, already double-checking the ammo he had before they were to head out. He froze at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder, turning quickly to see Erik there now. The man’s other hand was on Rhy’s shoulder, the Knight giving a huff. 

“Haylen, what’s the number of supplies you and Song have packed for the powerplant?” he heard Danse asked the Brotherhood scribe. 

“Enough to heal a deathclaw,” Haylen said. Gage could practically hear the smile on her face. 

“I have taken the liberty of adding extra ammunition to our supplies,” X6 added on. “Whatever has made its home in the power plant won’t stand a chance.” 

“Ha! If you all are going in there like you did the Gauntlet, you won’t need Gage at all!” Mason laughed. 

“Hey now, cut that out.” 

Gage swore the air got bitterly cold the moment Erik directed his voice to the Pack Leader. 

“There’s a reason why we’re bringing Gage and it’s not just because he’s the reason we’re here. I don’t want to hear that sort of talk among any of you. When I say ‘play nice with each other,’ I mean it, you hear?” Erik’s voice went in an odd range for the now-former raiders. Gage felt his brow furrow, recalling a time where he was but a boy on a poor farm listening to one of his father’s lectures… 

He mentally shook his head as Erik continued talking.

“I looked at the maps for this park. The Galactic Zone and Dry Gulch sections are on the way to the power plant, so we’ll go ahead and scout out the outsides of those areas. While we do that, see if you all can send some folk to check the outsides of the other sections. I don’t want anyone losing their heads rushing in those places, especially the Kiddie Kingdom. Mags, William, see if your boys can find some hazmat suits, and any scouts sent that way to be given them. I could see the radiation from the Fizztop,” Erik commanded. 

“Take it you want some scouts for these outside areas too,” Ronnie added on, tapping on the red marks on the maps that didn’t mark the other park sections. Erik nodded. 

“There’s a junkyard that could have some good scrap. Given the history that we’ve already come across here in this part, there could be plenty of wasted materials the pre-war era threw away,” Danse explained further.    
  
“There’s also Bradberton here,” Song said as she pointed at the northeastern portion of the map. 

“It used to be a town built for the employees of this park from what the records have shown,” X6 interrupted. Song glared at him momentarily before turning to the others. 

“It’s near a dam, which is just a bit more north of it. If we have some people scout out the area, it could be a suitable settlement. There should already be a water reserve!” 

Gage was wondering how the hell the others were taking these plans so well. Then again, as he looked over at them, it seemed they were feeling rather lost as they just nodded along. 

* * *

“Shit, Gage, watch out!” 

Said man found himself knocked to the ground by Erik, the rapid sound of gunfire heard along with the pained sound of its target. Gage groaned as he hit the ground, quickly getting grabbed and picked up by Song to get cover behind the four that took aim. Haylen already had a stimpak ready for him. 

They were halfway through the ghouls that were here in the place, and he was so. Tired. Of. Ghouls. 

“Targets down,” X6 let out, Erik taking the moment to look over to Gage as he stood up. 

“You good there, Gage?” 

“How many ghouls are in this place?”

“Probably a lot of these abominations,” Rhys let out with a growl, reloading his rifle.

“Former park employees, given the amount we’ve already carved through,” Haylen added on. 

“Why were so many of them here though…” Song went on muttering as Gage stood up, the feeling returning to his shoulder. 

“Guess it was a busy day.” There was almost a sorrowful tone to Erik’s voice, the added twinge of bitterness not lost to Gage. 

As they got higher and higher up the building, Gage noticed Song constantly looking back and firing at what he could only assume were ghouls that they missed. 

“Did we really miss that many, girl?” 

“Not really. Just figured it’d be kinder to at least actually kill them instead of leaving them on the ground with no limbs. Last time we use a minigun.” 

“Alright, both of you,” Erik let out. “While we’re climbing, we should think about plans on who’s going on which team to check out the other park sections when we get back.” 

“Whatcha have in mind, Boss?” 

“Xander stays with me, for one.” 

“Naturally,” the courser said. “The Institute had instructed me to accompany you-” 

“Xander, I swear to God if you don’t shut up…” Erik growled as he dragged one of his hands down his face. “I’m thinking Danse leads one team and I’ll lead the other, we clear out and claim these sections two at a time.” 

“Isn’t there only five park sections in this place?” Haylen pointed out as the group found themselves on the rooftop of the building. “Or are we including the outer perimeters as the sixth place?” 

“At the very least, we should at least make sure that dam’s cleared out and secured,” Rhys added on. His head snapped to Song, the redhead standing still for a moment behind them. “Don’t tell me you’re malfunctioning now of all times, synth.” 

“What?” She shook her head and met the Knight’s eye before looking back out to the landscape. 

“No, no, it’s just… wow. Just look at this,” she answered, gesturing to the view the rooftop provided. Erik turned his head to do so, approaching the railing until his footsteps stopped to be beside her.

It was just a bit after the sun had set if he had to judge by the fleeting purples and dark pinks in the sky blending into dark colors dotted with stars. They must have been inside all day, no doubt thanks to the number of ferals that had been inside. The outline of the other parts of the areas could be barely seen, however, Nuka-Town USA was visible. If he squinted, he could make a guess that some of them could be coming from the Pack’s headquarters, likely from the stage of the Amphitheatre. The suite up on Fizztop seemed to have its lights on too. No doubt Ronnie and some of the Minutemen were settling up there for now until everything was in complete order. The General found his shoulders relaxing as he took in that thought.

There were a few spots he could see from up here that they would no doubt be exploring later. Even now, he could make out the giant bottle outline of a Red Rocket Station and the mound of wasted scraps in what he could only guess was the junkyard. A small red light from there already gave him a clue of there being at least a sentry bot still roaming there. Just behind that seemed to be a bog of some sort, a light fog just over the water. He wondered what other places were here in Nuka World that popped up after the bombs dropped, how many settlers were still here in the park that hadn’t been enslaved by the raiders, and what secrets remained in place from his own time.

“Alright, I’ll admit it. The synth is right in it being a good view.” Rhys’s voice nearly had Erk jump out of his skin as he turned to look at him. The others of the group joined the two, Rhys and Haylen noticeably being closer to Danse’s side with their fingers still on the triggers of their guns. Erik didn’t miss the smile on Gage’s face as the younger man leaned on the railing.

“If y’all think this looks pretty good now, just wait ‘til we get the power on,” Gage chuckled. 

No one made a move to continue on their way through. 

A few minutes of silence passed on by before Erik finally let out a loud, wistful sounding sigh.

“She would have liked this,” he said softly. He could feel several eyes on him now, no doubt one set of them belonging to Song. 

“Who? That Shaw woman?” Gage guessed. 

“No… my wife Nora. She always wanted to bring Shaun here…” 

The silence engulfed them again. Erik let out a small sigh as he felt Haylen place a hand on his shoulder. He swallowed down the lump that formed up in his throat and stood up straight. 

“Come on, let’s get that power on.” 


	20. Chapter 20

Gage hadn’t been joking about the view getting better once the power was on. Song couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face as the group sat and watched the fireworks go off, each ‘ _ boom _ ’ sending a shiver down her spine. They were seating on some blankets Erik and Danse had managed to find, Haylen already handing out a few of their food supplies, and the room the power had been connected to already settled up as their camp for the night.

The freckled girl sat with her knees close to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. The streetlights between each of the zones were lit up, creating lines for her eyes to follow to the said zones that were lit up and filled with moving rides. And the fireworks! Her blue eyes were constantly fixed on the orange and red explosions in the air. 

Next to her, Erik sat with a soft smile on his face. He was leaning back, keeping himself up mostly with his hands laying palm down behind him. Gage sat on his other side, his eyes just as focused on the fireworks. Even Danse left his power armor to sit with Haylen and Rhys, though his hand never left his laser rifle with X6 sitting in front of Erik. 

Song blinked rapidly as she spied a Fancy Lads Snack Cake out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she blinked again in surprise before looking up at Danse. The Paladin wasn’t looking at her as he offered the snack to her. She stared at him for a moment before smiling again and taking the snack cake. Turning her attention back to the fireworks, she bit into the treat. She found her cheeks feeling just the tiniest bit warmer. 

And if she had noticed the slightest smile on the Paladin’s face, she certainly made no comment on the matter. 

* * *

Long after the fireworks were over, Erik tucked his granddaughter into one of the sleeping bags they had laid out in their makeshift camp. Danse’s power armor had been moved to block the door while the others began to try and figure out the patrol plans in the center of the room. 

“Alright, so we already said that courser man here is heading with Erik and Danse is leading the other one. Guess we’re saying the synth is going with Erik as well?” Gage said, looking at the roughly made map they had.    
  
“No,” Erik growled lowly as he sat down with the others. “Song and Haylen stay together. Haylen was the one who spoke for Xander to come with us, she stays with Song.” 

“One of these teams is going to end up with four people, Boss,” Gage pointed out. “So what, both the girls go with you then and then is the big shot and knighty boy with me?” 

“That would be unwise.” Danse kept his voice in a hushed but stern tone. “Aside from the mistrust both Rhys and I still have in you, the initial plan we had for when we came here had been to have one synth on each team.” 

“I don’t trust Xander around Song unless there’s a lot of others,” Erik added on, his expression cold. Gage took the chance to look at the courser. He expected to find an otherwise blank expression, but instead noticed the slightest tension in the corner of X6’s mouth. Ah, so the idea that his charge didn’t trust him unnerved him. That brought Gage some comfort. 

“Besides, with that power armor, Danse is practically a walking tank,” Erik went on with a very amused chuckle before turning serious again. “Haylen’s a good shot and is our first medic while we’re on patrol and Song’s the sniper and hacker. I’ll take Rhys, I want at least someone from the Brotherhood with me just in case. Just leaves the question of who Gage goes with.” 

“I would assume with Valen-” Rhys began. 

“I’d recommend that between each zone we resupply at Nuka-Town and we switch which time has him,” Haylen interrupted.

Erik hummed a bit before looking up at Danse, earning a nod in return. Gage found himself tempted to laugh at the expression on Rhys’s face. 

“Alright. General-Knights is my team, Paladin-Techs is your team.” 

Danse gave Erik a very unamused look as the General grinned up at him. The Paladin went back to looking at the map, taking a few of the chips they were using as markers and setting one down at the bottling plant. 

“We’ll head there once we resupply at Nuka-Town and check in on the gangs and soldiers,” he said. Erik gave a low hum, drumming his fingers. 

“That zone clearly has water,” X6 pointed out. “The chances of mirelurks residing there are high.” 

“That’s why we’ll take Gage with us first,” Danse stated. “We’ll need the extra gun that can get close. But that zone would clearly have a ton of cola and caps in there that would help the economy of the Commonwealth, plus I would be certain of there being some advanced tech being there.” 

Gage found a small bit of respect growing in him for the Paladin. If it wasn’t for the Brotherhood talk, he probably could see him being perfectly fine heading out to the zone with him. 

“Rhys, Xander, and I will investigate the Safari Park then. At the very least, there has to be at least some descendents of the animals the park used to keep there,” Erik said as he placed a marker on the said zone on the map. “After that, we’ll look into the outer side areas for settlement placements, plus investigate that dam in the north. I also want to take a look at that junkyard. Pretty sure I saw a sentry bot’s light there. We’ll take Gage then.” 

“We’ll head to Dry Gulch then while you four do that.” 

Gage lifted his head up and out of the corner of his eye saw Rhys and Erik do the same. 

“Sir?” Haylen asked, even her raising a brow. 

“That sign warning about the bloodworms. We should clear that area out at the very least for the safety of future residents.” 

“Fair point,” Erik nodded, though still looked skeptical of the Paladin's true reason. “Take it you’ll head to the Galactic Zone after that?” 

“You saw those robots on the outer perimeter. There’s no doubt in that place having an assortment of tech.” 

“Leaves us with Kiddie Kingdom,” Rhys huffed. 

“Don’t worry too much, Rhys. I’m sure by then, you’ll have decent enough protection against that radiation cloud going on there,” Haylen offered as slight comfort to the Knight. Gage noticed though that there seemed to be a playful tone to the Scribe’s voice. 

Oh boy...


	21. Chapter 21

“Alright, this is scary.” 

Those were the first words to come out of Gage’s mouth when the group returned to Nuka-Town USA to see none of the collars on the now settlers’ necks and the members of the Pack, Operators, and Minutemen being far too at ease with each other. The only thing he could see of any tension was that the conversations between each of the faction members were brief and short. 

And that was before he got a look at the black eyes both Mason and William were now sporting. 

“I see you two found out why we were fine with Ronnie remaining here,” Erik chuckled, slinging his rifled across his back as they made their way to the Fizztop. 

“Crazy woman wanted to wrestle in order to win the slaves’ freedom,” Mason grunted out. “Can’t say it wasn’t earned. Will here was questioning the effectiveness of the Minutemen.” 

Gage didn’t miss Song placing her hands on her hips as she said, “Well of course you were going to get a black eye from Ronnie if you were babbling that outloud!” 

“Yeah, yeah, lesson learned. Guess you want reports from the scouts now that you’re all back,” the Operator male huffed as he leaned against the wall. “Congratulations on getting the power up and running, by the way.” 

“Appreciated, Black,” Danse nodded as Erik pressed the button for the lift. “Anything to report that requires immediate attention?” 

“Yeah, there’s more mirelurks than this entire place can eat at that bottling plant,” was the answer from William. “Shaw can inform you what the Minutemen crew found in the areas they went to scout in. As for the situation with the mirelurks, we found a few gunner bodies outside of there.” 

Gage could already hear Song fiddling with her pipboy to record the report as Mason began his. 

“My boys went to check out that safari place and ended up losing one there.” The words earned a growl from Erik. 

“What did I say about anyone running in to those places-” 

“Wasn’t them running in, it was what ran out,” Mason interrupted. “Those scouts said it was some sort of new Deathclaw. Barely anything left of the guy when that group returned.” 

The group shared the same look to each other, the same exact thought running through their minds. ‘ _ Ah shit _ .’ 

“Was it just one of these creatures?” Haylen asked. 

“As far as we know,” The Alpha answered. “No one’s been back to scout out there. I’m not risking more of my boys just to be chow.” 

Danse kept his gaze on Erik. “You want to switch on the plans?” 

The General shook his head, saying, “No, we’ll just have to treat this as a stealth mission.” 

Rhys, Haylen, Danse, Song, and X6 all turned their attention to Erik with very skeptical looks. The General sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“No offense, Erik, but out of all of us, stealth is very much your weak point,” Haylen laughed. “Even a deaf super mutant could find you.” 

“I’m not  _ that _ bad,” he retorted, the lifting finally landing beside them. “Alright, I’ll take the power armor that’s up in Fizztop that Colter left behind for myself to make sure the attention stays on me if we end up encountering it,” he added. “We’ll get the reports of the Minutemen scouts from Ronnie. Thanks you two,” he aimed at Mason and William. 

“No problem boss.” 

The two went off on their own as the group of seven all crowded onto the lift. Erik was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking before X6 spoke up. 

“It might be ideal to see if there’s other power armor in the parks for the near future. At the very least, the added protection would do well for our team at least.” 

Erik gave a soft sigh, far more grateful as they all stepped off the lift and into the suite. Ronnie remained at the table, a few notes to her side as she looked over the map of the parks. 

“Ah, General. Good work on the power. That patrol of Pack members only lost one thanks to those fireworks,” she said, standing up straight and tipped her hat towards the group. 

“What’s the situation in Kiddie Kingdom and the outer parts of this place?” Erik asked, leaning over the map. Song leaned on the table with her elbows, her eyes on the notes before them.

“I won’t bullshit you on this General. It’s bad there. There’s no hazmat suits anywhere these former raiders could find, so getting close was out of the question. We had to use the rifle scopes to peer in and around the place. Ghouls are everywhere in that shithole,” Ronnie said. “It wouldn’t be too bad of a place to attract traders and more settlers, especially anyone with kids. There’s a few big buildings that’d be ideal for setting up shop in there and the defenses look ideal. But between the radiation coming from those sprayers and the amount of ghouls, there’s not a chance in hell anyone’s getting close.” 

“And the outskirts?” Song asked. 

“Something a bit interesting there. There’s a group of some sort of cult that’d be interested in our help. Say they need some space suits from the Galactic Zone. That junkyard’s filled with bots-” 

“One’s a sentry bot, I take it? We could see the red light from the powerplant’s roof,” Rhys said, his own expression scrunched up. 

“Ha! Not just one, though luckily for us, it can’t go anyway. One of our men got spooked and started firing before he got his sense back. There’s two of those hell junks in there, one’s just stationary.” Ronnie’s face lit up with amusement, the light in her eyes almost like fire before she continued. 

“The dam's still there, though we already cleared out a few mirelurks in order to get back to scouting. The small town’s in ruin and engulfed by ghouls. No one’s dared to go in there.” She paused for a moment before tapping a location that wasn’t so far from the junkyard. 

“This place is some sort of haunted attraction from the pre war days, but there’s active robots in there too,” she stated. “Scouts thought they saw a face in one of the windows but we don’t know if it’s part of the attraction or not.”

“So there’s a high chance of someone residing in there,” X6 mused. 

“Clearly, given the distance, the bots had to have come from the junkyard and whoever is in there clearly knows how to work with them,” Danse huffed. 

“I’d want to shake their hand if it wasn’t for the fact those robots are likely hostile,” Song sighed. 

“There’s also a family not too far from both of those locations,” Ronnie went on to say. “Dunmores, they call themselves. The husband Brett sells weapons and ammo mostly. Former Gunners by the looks of the tattoos on his and his wife’s foreheads.” 

“As long as they don’t cause trouble and are willing to trade, I got no issues. If anything, I think the better we know the situation with those bots, the better for them at the very least,” Erik commented. Ronnie nodded, giving a small chuckle. 

“I’d figure you’d say that, General.” 

“What else is out there?” Gage asked. 

“Cool your horses there, Raider, I’m getting to it. There’s some sort of building dedicated to showing shovels to the east of Nuka-Town, and south of the Nuka Station is another residence of a guy named Evan. Nice guy and he’s willing to trade food and even shared a special recipe of that Nuka Cola stuff.” 

“Like we need more of that stuff,” Gage huffed before closing his mouth shut at Ronnie’s glare. Erik just nodded his head as he kept his eyes on the map. 

“Good, good. We’ll head around to his place later to offer him from defenses for his home at least.” 

“Our boys already set up a few turrets for him.” 

“Read my mind, Ronnie.” 

“There’s also a Red Rocket near that bottling plant, those Operator fellas noticed it while they were scouting that zone. Seems to be a decent settlement that could be set up after the mirelurks in there are taken care of,” Ronnie went on to say. “There’s more gunners at the overpass and near there, we found a suit of power armor in an abandoned house. No doubt if you’re heading into that Safari park anytime soon, you’ll need it.” 

“Excellent. If I may, I would suggest letting Knight Rhys have it. As a courser, my functions are better suited for stealth than direct combat,” X6 commented. Many eyes went to him momentarily. Gage took his sights on the courser to look at Erik and Rhys. There, he saw that the Minutemen General was looking at him slightly annoyed while Rhys held a sneer. 

“Good luck,” Song said after a few minutes of silence. 

* * *

###  The next morning....

Danse led the way to the bottling plant the next morning, his laser rifle at the ready while Haylen walked beside him with a pack full of supplies. On the scribe’s other side was Song, who held her own laser pistol and carried a pack ready to be filled with possible scrap from the zone. Gage walked on Danse’s other side, checking his own ammo. 

The other team of Rhys, Erik, and X6 walked beside them as they went to deal with the Safari Zone, the former two in power armor. 

“Song, remember, have a holotape recording in that pipboy, alright?” Erik inquired for what felt like to Gage the tenth time that morning if the expression on his face said anything to go by. Song nodded regardless, a large smile on her face as she went to wrap her arms around the power armor chest the General was in. 

“I will, Grandpa! Don’t forget about yours and watch your six!” she responded back. Erik found himself smiling softly at her, gently and carefully hugging her back. 

They were at the divide in the road that led each of the teams on their ways, the two in the center with their hug. 

“You got enough ammo for the pistol, right?” he asked, cupping her cheeks as he forced himself to look serious. She nodded again with that wide, lopsided smile. 

“Yep!” 

“Stimpaks?” 

“We made extras last night!” 

“Rad-X and radaway?” 

“Enough to cure a ghoul!” 

“Armor suited enough?” 

“We have the Paladin in power armor and let’s face it, Gage’s chest armor is a literal cage.” 

Erik let out a chuckle at that, looking down at the ground as he tried to hide the smile that spread across his face. Song’s smile turned a bit softer as she went to hug him again. 

“Please be careful in there,” she whispered. Erik once more hugged her in return. 

“I promise.” 

“Sir, if you both keep continuing to hug each other and trying to make sure she’s ready, it’ll be night time by the time we arrive at the safari zone,” X6 let out with a rather irritated zone. Song laughed once more, giving another tight hug before returning to Haylen’s side. 

“We’ll report in once done!” she called back. 


	22. Safari Zone: Meeting Cito

“You really think it’s just one in there?” Rhys spoke up as they drew nearer to the north most park zone. 

“Not really,” Erik admitted. He was trying to listen for any heavy footsteps that weren't power armor, each one of his own steps careful of where he tread. “If they spotted one Deahtclaw-like creature, there’s a good chance there’s more around the place. If I’ve learned anything by now, mutations in creatures rarely stick to just one…” 

“Splendid,” X6 let out dryly. Both Erik and Rhys paused, raising their brows at the courser. 

“... Xander, did you just use sarcasm?” Erik asked, slowly beginning to smirk. X6 paused in his steps as if realizing his mistake. 

“No sir-” 

“I’m so proud of you.” 

“Sir, stop-”

“No, really, Xander, I am.” 

“Sir-” 

“Target ahead, you two!” Rhys called out, lifting his rifle and turning safeties off. Erik’s teasing smirking disappeared instantly as he moved on ahead to be the first to confront the monster, X6 and Rhys not too far behind with their weapons loaded. 

Well, it certainly looked quite similar to a Deathclaw. The way it stood on its hind legs and balanced with its tail as it aimed its claws at its ill-prepared target certainly linked its appearance to its Commonwealth equivalent despite the lack of horns and the longer snout. Something about the skin looked off though to the vault dweller. The way its green tones didn’t reflect like the normal scales of a Deathclaw but instead the smoother, dull green tones of a Supermutant set off warning bells in his mind. 

Its target seemed to be a man in only a loincloth and a giant hammer. That sight alone set Erik’s adrenaline rushing as he forced himself to tackle the lizard with his power armor. 

He had to give Colter some credit, the man knew how to work with power armor with how it was withstanding the strikes of this new breed of monster as he fought with it. Too bad the man had been a cheating shit. 

Rhys and X6 both fired rounds at the large lizard-like creature with some difficulty as Erik struggled to keep the thing away from the presumed civilian it was fighting with earlier. If he had to judge from Rhy’s fire rate, it took a whole clip from the laser rifle to take it down.

He struggled to push its limp corpse off him, a chill running down his spine as he looked at the teeth. He was grateful for the cage fitted to his armor when it seemed like those jaws could be powerful enough to snap his head off like a doll. Looking over to check on the ‘civilian,’ Erik found himself blinking as he finally took in the dark-eyed man. 

The stranger looked strong, both from his muscle mass and the way he held the giant hammer with ease. His dark hair was tied in a small ponytail, paired with a beard on his lower jaw. The hammer itself was coated in blood, more than Erik figured it’d be covered in given the condition this monster was in. 

“Are you alright, civilian?” Rhys questioned, the click of his rifle Erik recognized as the Knight turning safeties on. 

“Cito…” the stranger began. “Cito see you three kill monster. You friends?” 

Erik felt X6’s glance immediately turn to him while Rhy’s face scrunched up at the poor speech of the man. 

“Why are you talking like that?” Rhy went on to ask. 

“Cito sorry Cito not talk good. Cito family not talk. Cito not talk to man or lady in long time,” the stranger, Cito, from what the three were understanding, explained. 

“Let me guess, you were raised by apes,” X6 let out. Erik would be a bit happy that the other was using some form of humor, but right now he was more concern on figuring out the situation. 

“Not know ‘ape.’ Cito only know family.” 

“Sure, Cito, we can be friends,” Erik interrupted whatever Rhys was going to add, defaulting back to the same tone he found he resorted to when talking to Curie on one of her projects or giving Cait pointers on her aim. Cito smiled widely, though Erik took note how he still held the sledge hammer tightly as if he was still ready to attack. 

“Cito happy have strong friends,” the wildman said. “You kill Monster. Monster strong but you stronger.” The man’s expression turned to fury as his eyes narrowed and snarled. Erik instinctively held an arm to stop X6 from aiming. “Cito happy you kill Monster. Monster hurt Cito and Cito family.” 

Erik took in the man’s facial features, recognizing immediately how their newest friend seemed to wear his heart out on his sleeve. 

“Well, it can't hurt you anymore, Cito,” he began, only for Cito to interrupt. 

“No! Many more Monster. No stop! Cito kill Monster. New Monster come. Cito kill Monster again. New Monster come again!” 

Erik looked over at Rhys, his one blue eye meeting the Knight’s hazel’s eyes. So there was more than one of these new Deathclaws here… He made a few gestures with hands towards him, already devising a plan on how to approach further encounters with these creatures. Rhys nodded just as Cito spoke up. 

“Monsters not stop. Help Cito stop Monsters?” 

“Of course we'll help,” Erik answered immediately as he turned back to look at Cito. The man was smiling again, moving on ahead before looking back at the three. 

“Cito happy you help! New friends follow Cito! Cito show you thing. Thing to help kill Monsters!” 

With that, Cito led the way. Erik signaled to the X6 and Rhys to keep an eye out. He didn’t have to look as he heard X6’s gun get reloaded. 

“Cito want to know new friends names,” the man stated, catching the general’s attention once more. 

“I’m Erik, the other man in the heavy armor is Rhys, and the man with the shades is Xander,” he said, offering a kind smile. Cito looked back at them, nodding slowly. 

“Erik, Rees, Ander…” 

“That’s not-” Rhys began, his head shooting up to glare at Cito before Erik raised his hand. 

“A good attempt Cito. We can work on it.” 

Cito gave another big smile before stopping at a large broken cage. The sound of growling filled the air as it went instantly cold. The smile instantly disappeared as he prepared to attack with his hammer. Erik got his rifle ready with X6 already aiming at the target while Rhys got into position. 

The monster on the other side roared as it charged at them from the other side. 


	23. The World of Refreshment: The Nuka Queen

“Huh, they weren’t kidding about the Mirelurks,” Song commented as Gage kicked the now dead mirelurk warily. “Wonder why they’re glowing blue.” 

“Given the nature of this place and that this was one of the areas Nuka Cola was testing the drink, I’d say some of Nuka Quantum would be to blame,” Haylen answered. Song looked curiously at her before beginning to harvest some of the meat from their target. 

“You’re not actually going to eat that shit, are you?” Gage’s nose scrunched up as Song nodded. 

“I didn’t take a raider being picky in what rations he comes across,” Danse commented. Though he also made a face at the sounds that came from the soft and squishy mirelurk flesh being carved out of the hard shell with a combat knife. 

“I’m not. Hell, I’ve eaten worse than this shit. Doesn’t mean it’s still not bad when considering what’s on offer back in Nuka-Town,” Gage huffed. Haylen gave a small nod at the mention of the much better ( and no doubt more healthy) food that was at the marketplace. Song laughed at the conversation, dropping the meat into a portable cooler. 

“Hey, I’m just curious if the Quantum drink affects how this gets cooked,” she laughed as she went back to Haylen’s side. “Piper said she’d teach me how to make a Mirelurk cake and omelette when we went back home, so I want to make sure I’m ready for it!” 

Danse was still for a moment, his head turned towards them with a calculating stare while Gage loaded his gun. 

“Right… so, Paladin, you’re the boss of this team from what we all were going on about back there. How are we doing this mess?: he asked. Danse blinked for a moment, getting his mind back to tactics as he looked at the Mirelurks they already had to go through. 

“We should clear the outside area first. There’s no doubt that there’ll be more inside, and the chances that the nests are in the interiors is high,” he began. “These Mirelurks seem better than the normal breed, and there’s still many of them. We’ll likely be dealing with a Mirelurk Queen in the area, but I don’t see how it’d be inside if the exterior size is to go by.” 

Haylen tilted her head and pointed her chin up to look at him while Song raised a brow in a bit of confusion. 

“Sir, you want us to fight the Mirelurk Queen first?” the Scribe asked. 

“Affirmative. I’d rather use what ammo we can on it before the regular ones that are here. If we use all the ammo we have finishing clearing the perimeter of this area, we could restock back at Nuka-Town.” 

“Get the hardest one out of the way first. Not the worst plan, I’ll admit,” Gage said as he finished reloading. Danse nodded, still thinking about the tactics before he turned over to Haylen and Song. 

“Haylen, I want you and S0 to find a way onto the roof and cover Gage and I from above,” he directed. Song gave a salute, a wide smile on her face as Haylen nodded. The Paladin looked to Gage. The Raider met his eye, feeling uneasy in his presence. 

“Lock and loaded, Gage?” 

“As much as one can be considering the odds. Just going to put it out here, since you’re the guy in the fancy armor and all that, I’m using you as cover.” Gage gave a bit of a sigh at the end. 

“Noted,” Danse deadpanned, leading the way around the perimeter of the building. As the two went around, the sound of gunshots echoed in the air. Gage shook his head as they came across the limp bodies of the mirelurks. 

“Well, at least we know no one’s going to go hungry if we have some folks drag these all back,” Gage said, pausing for a moment to poke one of the carcasses. Danse led the way around the large pool, taking aim at the mirelurks they could see… though paused for a moment. 

He lifted his head, his brows furrowed as the sound of gunshots could still be heard, but unable to see the targeted mirelurks. Gage stayed behind Danse, already keeping aim at the water as he waited for the queen to pop up any moment. Danse looked up to the scaffolding. His eyes widened, aiming up at the movement of shelled creatures, and began firing. 

The sound of a Mirelurk King in pain rang through the area. Gage instinctively covered one of his ears in pain as Danse breathed in slight relief as the body fell to the ground. 

“Haylen!” He called out, trying to look for the scribe’s uniform or Song’s bright red hair. “Are you and S0 alright?” 

The silence was all that greeted him. 

Chills went down his spine, his grip on his gun tight. Gage looked over, his brows furrowed. 

“I’m fine!” Both men let out a sigh of relief at the sound of Haylen’s voice before she continued. “That Mirelurk King caught Song’s arm though. We found a way inside up here and-” 

Haylen’s words were drowned out as the loud roar of the Mirelurk Queen echoed in the air. Danse pushed Gage towards the scaffolding pillars as the blue glow illuminated the area. The raider took over behind one of the pillars, checking his fire again before eyeing their target. Dread pooled at his feet as he barely got a look. He saw a mirelurk queen once. He wasn’t surprised that they were large. This queen was already larger than a normal mirelurk queen. He looked over to Danse as the paladin fired at the queen. 

“Haylen, see if you or S0 if she’s able to still, can shoot off those spitters!” Danse called out. Gage crouched down to avoid a spit of acid just in time. 

“At least we know we’re hitting it!” he shouted as he began firing bullets at the creature. 

Up on the roof, Haylen fired a few rounds at the queen’s head before placing the gun down. She grabbed the supply bag, hurrying in finding one of the many stimpaks they had in there. Song held her arm tightly as she tried to look through the pod’s window gap. Her blue eyes were wide open, though Haylen wasn’t sure if it was from shock or the sight of the Mirelurk Queen. The scribe knelt down next to the synth, beginning to roll up her sleeve. 

“Alright, this should take a few minutes, but the moment you think you can wield a gun, it’d be appreciated,” Haylen began. She met Song’s eyes for a moment, trying to keep a calm face before looking down to inject the stimpak. 

She froze. 

“... Haylen?” Song managed out weakly. 

“It’s alright,” she said out of instinct, injecting the stimpak. “Just hold on tight.” 

She wasn’t fine with how easy it was to just say those words as she continued to stare at the markings on the synth’s arms. Aside from the light brown galaxy of freckles, it was hard to ignore the faded yellow-brown marks and faint scars that littered Song’s skin. The entire forearm seemed off in a way Haylen wasn’t sure she could understand. Something about the way the light was hitting it or maybe it was how the bruises there seemed darker…

“Haylen?” Song’s voice came through again. “I… uh… I need that arm to shoot.” 

Haylen blinked, looking up at Song’s wound to see it patched up cleanly now. Her eyes went up to her face. All she could see in the redhead’s eyes was fear and pain. 

“Right,” she barely managed as she took the stimpak out. In that split second, she realized she had her thumb pressing on the other’s forearm. She drew her hand away, letting Song grab the nearest gun before she herself got into position to shoot. 

She found it hard to focus on the fight, however, her mind going back to Erik’s words a few days ago. ‘ _ And Haylen might be able to catch on to if she’s suffering from something that’s affecting her mentality… _ ’ Was this what Erik had meant? 

Haylen was quickly shaken out of her thoughts though as she watched Danse charge at the mirelurk queen. During her thought process, the spitters of the queen had been shot off and the creature was now charging towards where Gage and Danse had been. In an effort to keep the queen away from his current teammate while the others were shooting, the paladin set forth to charge back, a fist raised to meet the soft insides that remained exposed. 

Haylen stared on, just barely noticing Song having stopped firing. The scribe looked over at her in fear that the stimpak hadn’t done its job correctly. While she found Song gripping her previously injured arm again, the freckled girl didn’t seem to be focused on the pain. Instead, her blue eyes were wide at the sight of Danse ramming into the giant mirelurk and using the force of the power armor to cause damage to the creature. The blush that was across Song’s face almost hid her freckles. Haylen raised a brow as she poked Song’s shoulder. 

“Hey, you’re the sniper here,” she pointed out to her. Song jumped at the other’s words before she aimed her gun again. 

“Right! Right! Uh, you should get those stimpaks ready! For Paladin Danse, I mean. And Gage! And Gage! He could be injured too,” Song stuttered out before she started to fire at the mirelurk queen’s head. 

Haylen stared at her for a moment as she got the supplies ready. She briefly shook the thought from her head. They had more pressing matters to address before even touching that one with a ten-foot pole.


	24. Safari Zone: The Last Claws

“Huh, interesting.” X6 examined the latest Gatorclaw the group had killed, noting its paler, nearly white complexion. 

Erik was more silent as he and Rhys focused on listening to the holotapes they had found in the next room. 

“Monster stand no chance against Cito and friends.” Cito held a smile before Erik patted him on the shoulder. The former seemed to brighten up even more at the encouragement. 

Erik took the latest holotape out, looking a bit more conflicted. Rhys adjusted his rifle, looking up in case of any more of the Gatorclaws. 

“What are you thinking? About this cloning machine, I mean?” he asked, looking back at the General. 

Erik paused, looking back at Rhys to take in his expression. He’d been used to the other’s more brash and hot-headed nature, but the look of fear was all too clear and one of his fingers was dangerously on the trigger of his laser rifle. 

“First, we shut it off. Then we sweep the park to make sure we didn’t miss any of these monsters.” He took in a deep breath. “Then, if we still have enough daylight to make it back to Nuka Town, we head there and tell the others of it.” 

“I imagine this sort of technology would be ideal for both the Brotherhood and the Minutemen,” X6 noted. 

“Not the In-ster-toot?” Cito turned his head to the courser. 

“The Institute has its own stable food supply,” came the answer. “And this cloning facility would need to run on power the Institute cannot afford to use on a machine that they already have a simpler answer for.” 

“Oh well nice to know we can count the Institute out of this fight,” Rhys tsked. 

Cito was quick to glare at Rhys. 

“Friends not fight each other! Friends fight monsters!” 

“Thank you, Cito,” Erik said calmly as he moved to lead the way again. “We can worry about the machine later. For now, let’s just focus on killing these Gatorclaws and turning it off.” 

The sound of low growling came from down the halls. Each step the group took was slow as each member tried to spot the creature first. As they came upon stairs heading down, Erik adjusted his grip. Rhys began to step forward, only for Erik to stop him. 

“What? It’s clearly down there.” 

“Listen.” 

The sound of growling continued, but from here they would hear the footsteps of the next Gatorclaw. Pebbles of old concrete could be heard being tossed about, following the scraping of claws digging into the earth beneath the flooring. A loud sniff could be heard through the air. 

“More than one monster,” Cito whispered, crouching down and using his sledgehammer to keep his balance. “Two monsters.” 

“Cito and I will take the one on watch.” Rhys rechecked his ammo. “You and the courser then would be free to take on the one building the nest. It’ll allow one person in power armor to take on all the damage for each of them.” 

“Rhys, it’s times like this where it's remarkably clear that you work with Danse.” Erik was slow in his movements as they descended the stairs. 

The Knight did a double-take at the statement. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“It’s a compliment, don’t worry too much about it.” 

Rhys shook his head, taking the lead this time. Adjusting his rifle for the last time, he charged in with Cito on his heels. Turning around the corner, he slammed the power armor into the Gatorclaw that had been on watch. Erik and X6 quickly followed, aiming their sights at the second creature as it looked up from its nest building to its new attackers. 

Rhys began shooting at the Gatorclaw he was currently engaged with at point-blank range, sending multiple rounds into its belly as Cito charged past. 

“Cito! What are you-!?” 

The knight was interrupted by the sound of two more primal roars entering the room. His hazel eyes widened at the sight of Cito slamming his hammer into one of the new Gatorclaws’ heads. Erik cursed loudly as he took in the situation, kicking the nest-builder Gatorclaw back. 

“Xander, take care of this one, I’ll take the fourth one!” the General called out. He quickly reloaded his ammo and began firing. 

Rhys hissed in pain as the first Gatorclaw bit down on the shoulder plating. He kept firing, jamming his gun deeper into its guts. His breath became labored as the metal of the armor dug into his shoulder. As it let out a pained roar, he barely had time to glance up to see the claws coming down towards his face.

The next thing he knew was darkness.


	25. The World of Refreshment: Clearing Out 'Lurks

“... What the hell?” 

“Well, seems the inner security robots of this place at least took care of some of these mirelurks for us.” Song walked down to the bottom of the stairs with her eyes set on the broken robotic pieces that laid across the bottling plant’s floor. 

Gage wasn’t far behind. However, Danse paused upon Haylen placing a hand on his armor. He gave her a look, only to notice her head following the synth in their group. Her eyes remained pinned and scrunched up as she tried to assess Song’s condition. 

“S0,” Danse spoke up as he turned his attention to Song. “We can scavenge the robotic parts later. Right now, you should take it easy-” 

“Thanks for the worry, Paladin, but I’ll be fine. Haylen got me fixed up with a stimpak,” Song interrupted, flashing a wide smile over at him. 

“A stimpak isn’t going to get rid of sensitivity or the bruises you have, Song,” Haylen pointed out. 

Song frowned as her shoulders tensed. Gage immediately looked up and over, his own eye wide. Danse’s eyes furrowed as he continued to walk down the stairs. Song looked away and focused on the broken robot parts. She flinched as Gage grabbed her shoulder, letting out a small cry. 

“Gage!” Danse scolded right before the raider forced the girl’s sleeve down to expose the massive amount of bruises. Both the Paladin and Gage froze at the yellow-brown marks. 

“Girl, you better explain where the hell you got these because they look far too old for them to have come from that Mire-” Gage began. Song flinched at the raider’s tone, prompting Danse to shove him away. The synth rubbed her wrist that Gage had been gripping and kept her eyes on the ground. 

“Accidents… That’s all they’re from. Just accidents,” she answered. 

Haylen walked over, gently placing a hand on the other girl’s shoulder. 

“Song… Accidents don’t cause permanent bruises like that. Danse and I know you’ve been out of the Institute for three weeks. Those bruises look like they’re barely older than that and even then, they shouldn’t be that color-” 

“I don’t need you to say the same thing Aunt Curie did!” Song huffed, pulling away. Her shoulders shook as she felt the others eyes on her and she began to grind her teeth as she instinctively kept her arms closed to her chest. 

“Listen, I get it, we’re not exactly the first people you’d trust. But if we’re clearing this place out of these crabs, we might as well know if you’re going to be able to stand after this-” Gage began before Song turned her glare towards him. 

“I will be!” she snapped before freezing as Danse stepped between her and Gage. 

“That’s enough from all of you. Gage does have a point, we do need to get back at clearing this area out-” Danse began. 

“But-” Gage took a step back as the armored man sent him a look. 

“I doubt we’ll be out of here by nightfall,” the Paladin continued. “When we set up camp, we will discuss this further.” His expression softened upon looking back at Song’s face, clearly filled with hurt and anger. “I trust you enough to know your limits when engaging in combat alongside us, S0, but that does not mean you should dismiss the additional medical issues needed to be addressed after this concerning the obvious nature of those bruises. This won’t be a topic that’s to be avoided. Do I make myself clear?” 

He paused for a moment before adding with a softer voice, “We won’t continue the topic while we’re clearing the interior and entirely leave it for when we set up camp if you don’t wish to.”

Song’s eyes widened at his words as her face turned slightly red. She lightly coughed and looked away, one of her hands clenching. 

“Yes sir…” she muttered. 

Haylen began breathing easier. She moved to join Song in picking up some of the scrap from the robots, only to find the other girl flinching away from her. The scribe paused for a moment to look at the engineer. She found Song purposefully looking away from her and standing up to follow after the Paladin. Haylen blinked before she let the cold feeling of dread pooling in her stomach overwhelm her. It seemed whatever trust she had from Song had quickly been taken away for now…

“Alright, be honest with me.” Haylen jumped and quickly stood up to look at Gage as he spoke. “Is there something more than just the bruises on her you’re worried about?” 

She took in a deep breath as she decided to focus on getting her weapon ready in the meantime. 

“I think there’s something else wrong with one of her forearms. Something is wrong with how the light touches it,” she admitted in a whisper. 

“Haylen! Gage!” Danse called back. “We got bodies!” 

Both looked and hurried over to join the other two. Danse was kneeling over one of the bodies, his eyes narrowed at the green uniforms they were in and the several other mirelurk bodies surrounding them. Song picked up something nearby. Lifting it up, she revealed a dirty looking holotape and strange circuit board before lowering them and wiping the grime away. Gage winced as he rolled one of the three bodies over to reveal the large wound across the corpse’s stomach. Haylen moved to kneel over the same body Danse was inspecting, rolling it over to get a better look at the person’s face. Forcing the mouth up, the scribe looked in and winced. 

“Been dead for some time. Given the mirelurks haven’t come back to finish the bodies and the water hasn’t seemed to affect them yet, I’d say three days tops, a full day at the least,” she said. 

“Oh perfect. Good to know we missed the party,” Gage huffed as he checked his ammo once more.

The sound of a holotape being inserted caused all three to look over at Song. The engineer stood by the stairs leading down to the glowing blue water. Her eyes were focused on the Pipboy on her wrist as the audio began to play. 

“ _ This is Corporal Downey. As far as I know, last living member of Sergeant Lanier's recon team. We tried to secure the bottling plant and got overrun by some new breed of mirelurk. I've never seen anything like them. Blue glow, so strong. Stronger than any Commonwealth 'lurk I've encountered. _

_ It's gotta be the Quantum running through this place. We breached their nest, and they poured out. We fell back, but I'm pretty sure one of those damn 'lurks made off with my leg in the process. Private Clay dragged me to safety before I sent him to warn the others back at camp, but... I could hear the screams from here. I know help's not coming, and I'll be damned if I'm going to be food for some mirelurk spawn, so I'm taking this matter into my own hands. This is Corporal Downey. Signing off. For good. _ ” 

Danse stood up, looking around the bottling room they were in to count the rest of the mirelurk corpses. Gage sucked in a deep breath.

“Well, shit,” he said. “Better hope we got a plan for when we run out of ammo.” 

Song looked over as she ejected the holotape, her brows scrunched up in confusion. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Look around. Most of the damn mirelurks that are dead in this room are either closer to those damn broken robots or they’re too far from these bodies to have been a melee. We wasted plenty of ammo on that queen outside, but that was because we were figuring she’d be too big to be nesting inside,” Gage said before huffing, the grip on his gun tightening. “If this entire place is the nest though, we’re going to be in for some hell.” 

“I agree,” Danse said as he looked over towards Gage. “I doubt we have enough ammo to kill all of these creatures. I’ll take lead, given the fact I’m in power armor. In the likelihood that I’ll run out of ammunition, it should be enough to take the mirelurks down still. The rest of you, stay behind me and make every shot you use count.” 

Haylen watched as Song got her combat knife out in response. 

“If you can keep them still with that armor, I can gut them with this if I run out.” 

Haylen thought for a moment and looked over a Gage. The raider gave a shake of his head. She huffed a bit disappointed. 

“I guess you and I will just have to bash them with our guns if we run out,” she commented. 

He chuckled a bit as the four went to move on. 

“At least we got a plan,” he commented. 

As they entered the glowing river, the group had to pause as the sound of robots and mirelurks filled the air. Looking at each other, each member realized that the fight between the fallen robots they had found and the water-creatures might not have actually been as long ago as the death of the gunners they had found. The sound of an energy beam hitting thick skin earned a squeak of confusion from Song. 

“Assaultrons? Why the hell are those things not short-circuiting in this water?” 

“Hey, less ammo spent from us,” Gage pointed out. 

“S0, do you think you can sneak and cause one of those to self-destruct during its fight?” Danse asked. 

“Not a chance in this case,” she crossed her arms. 

“Wait, what?” Gage began to ask as Song continued to speak. 

“If two of them are still standing afterward though, I could hack into one of them and have them fight each other and we could take down the one that remains.” 

“Outstanding.” 

Gage looked over at Haylen to see the scribe nodding with a slight smile on her face. 

“Takes a robot to know a robot?” he whispered. 

“That’s sure one way to put it…” Haylen said back as the group got ready to progress further. 

It turned out the Mirelurks were still too much for the assaultrons, but at least the surviving one that remained was unable to walk, allowing Danse to shoot it’s face off. The group of four continued on further through the ankle-deep water, shooting down the massive number of mirelurks, mirelurk hunters, and mirelurk kings. Paladin Danse found himself more often than not stomping down on the mirelurk spawn that tried to swarm them, Song using him as cover to shoot from. 

During the entire time, the announcements began to play and echo through the tunnel. 

“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I prefer hearing X6’s emotionless voice over this false cheeriness.” Song looked up to the ceiling after one swarm as reloaded her pistol. “At least with Coursers, one can be sure about their honesty. Most of the time, anyway.” 

Danse looked over, finding himself raising a brow at her comment. 

“Are Courser programmed to be honest?” Haylen asked as she grimaced at the muck now clinging to the handle of her own gun. 

Song gave a bit of pause. 

“Yes… and no. Coursers aren’t really… made, so to speak. They’re just regular synths that underwent intense training.” She looked back down to her laser gun, fiddling with the loading switch. 

“Wait, hold up,” Gage began. “How the fuck does that work? Do those scientist boys just pick a random synth to train when they get low on coursers?” 

“No,” Song looked back at him. She shuffled in place as her face scrunched up and her shoulder rose with tension. “They… they look for certain traits in some of the Gen 3 synth population. Unless they’re being used for a certain experiment, which already is few and far in between, they’ll be up for consideration, taken to the SRB, and undergo training. If they succeed and graduate, they become courser, are re-registered with a new series number, and their synth component is upgraded to courser chips to allow them to teleport in and out of the Institute.”

Haylen’s brows scrunched up at the information before she took notice of the similar expression mirrored on Danse’s face. 

“If? There are synths who don’t succeed with the training?” he asked, turning around to face the synth.

“No… those that don’t usually have their minds wiped and are returned to their normal duties.” Song began to twirl a small lock of her hair in her fingers before she tried to continue on the way. “It… happens more often than one would think. And for the smallest amount of reasons… Listen, I can tell more later just… this isn’t the best place for this.” 

Haylen and Danse both looked at each other before the Paladin moved on. Leading onwards through the trek, the group then paused at the sight along one of the walls of the tunnel. The light shining through the security fence revealed the lavishly painted power armor, it’s red and silver-colored gleaming under all the rust. The four fell into silence as they stared at the sight and then each other. Danse looked back and slowly approached the door, tugging on it to see if it’d give only to find it still locked. 

“Well, I saw a few terminals back near the gunners, maybe the option to open the door is on one of the-” Song began before jumping at the sound of metal breaking. 

Danse tore apart the screen area, slowly bending the thicker parts. He began to grind his teeth as he strained at the stiff metal pillars in the fence. Once he was satisfied with the size of the opening, he reached his arm in and unlocked the door from the other side. 

“Or…. we could do that…” Song uttered slowly as her face went red and her large eyes widened.

Gage and Haylen shared a look with each other as the engineer continued to stare at Danse with wide eyes. The Paladin remained otherwise oblivious to the staring as he opened the door and proceeded to crack his knuckles. Gage shook his head and walked on in. 

“Well, gotta say this should help with the rest of those ‘lurks in here,” he said as he opened it up and got in. 

“Affirmative. The clean up should be quite easier from here on out given the adequate condition that armor seems to be in,” Danse said, offering a rather small smile. 

“Adequate indeed,” Song murmured, her eyes not on the Nuka Cola power armor, but instead on Danse. 

Haylen sighed, playing a hand on Song’s shoulder as she said, “Remember to breathe.” 

“Hate to tell you, Scribe girl, but I think what she actually needs is a towel!” Gage barked as he stepped out of the room with the newfound armor. 

Danse’s face scrunched up in confusion. 

“I highly doubt towels are necessary for ankle-deep water of all things.” 

It took Haylen every ounce of restraint she could find to not facepalm while Gage roared in laughter and leaned against the ruined fence for support whereas Song was covering her face with her shoulders locking in tension. 


	26. Safari Zone: Rest Up

Erik rested the back of his head against the wooden wall, his eye momentarily closed. His set of Power Armor stood by the button that brought up the elevator, caked heavily in dark red blood. X6 stood seemingly on guard, but the General knew better. He’d be sure that the courser was just observing Cito and how the wild man interacted with such ease of the tree’s branches.

Beside him on a sleeping bag in the treehouse laid Rhys, the only clear sign of life from the unconscious man being the rise and fall of his chest. The Knight’s head was wrapped in bandages and the makeshift medicine bag that resided close by was empty and now much shorter on stimpaks. The only comfort Erik found himself having at the moment had been that Rhys at least seemed stable in his condition. 

“Sir, if I may?” 

Erik opened his eye and looked back over at X6, adjusting his position as he did so. 

“What is it, Xander?” 

“Wouldn’t the primate house have been a better fall back?” 

Erik sighed at the question, leaning back once more and closing his eye again. 

“Maybe, but we needed to get to a safe place quickly, and at least up here, one of us can snipe at any remaining gatorclaws we missed.” He rubbed the side of his face before proceeding to rub the back of his neck. 

“If Rhys doesn’t wake up by tomorrow morning, we’ll send a distress signal to the others,” he continued to say. “They should be either on their way to Nuka Town by then hopefully. Pulser might be able to each Nuka-Town even. If that fails, I still got my flare gun.” 

“Rees awake yet?” 

Both men looked over as Cito climbed back down from the branches. He sat down across from Erik, crossing his legs as he cast a worried glance at Rhys. 

“No,” Erik said softly. “But he’s breathing easy at least. That alone should be a good sign at the moment.” 

Just as he said that the man in question began to stir, groaning as he finally came to reality. 

“Ha… Hay.. Haylen?” Rhys managed out being swallow, a hand reaching up for his bandages on his head. 

“Hey, hey, easy there Rhys. Easy,” Erik managed out. He moved from his spot, leaning over to help the Knight position his bandages to at least be able to see out of his left eye. “Scribe Haylen would kill me if I let you mess with your bandages too much.” 

X6 walked closer, kneeling on the ground. Cito gave a wide smile leaning over to also look at the man. 

“Rees scared Cito and friends! Monster hurt Rees, but Rees stronger than Monster!” 

Rhys let out a bit of a chuckle before he seemed to realize where he was and who he was surrounded by. His face instantly went back to its usual scowl as he adjusted to sit up. He instead groaned, sliding back down to rest his head back. 

“How long was I out?” he asked, resting a hand on his stomach. 

“Approximately nine hours,” X6 answered. “The power armor you were using had to be left behind. Not that it’d be of any more use in its condition.” 

“The gatorclaw you were fighting fell against you. The armor saved you from being crushed completely, but getting you out of it to attend your wounds had us destroying what was left of it,” Erik continued to explain. 

“Monster also hurt Rees eye. Erik not sure if eye all okay,” Cito added. 

Rhys lifted a hand to the bandaged part of his face, his face scrunched up for a moment. He closed his one exposed eye, groaning out a bit before letting a sigh out. 

“What about the machine? Did one of you turn it off?” 

“Yeah, it’s off. Once we got you out of that power armor, I switched it off and began hauling you to this treehouse. Xander’s been on the watch for any gatorclaws we haven’t killed yet,” Erik explained as he reached to give Rhys a bottle of water. “Drink. Heavens knows with the number of stimpaks I used on you, you’re probably dehydrated as hell.” 

“Be honest with me,” Rhys said, prompting himself back up to be able to drink. “How bad is it? My eye?” 

The other three went into silence, looking at Rhys with slight apprehension as he downed the water. The Knight paused as he looked back, biting the inside of his cheek and laying back down. 

“That bad, huh?” 

“You’ll certainly have a nasty set of scars to show,” X6 commented as he stood up. “The question that’s more up in the air truly is if you’ll be able to see out of it or not ever again.” 

“We’ll have Haylen take a look at it once we’re back at Nuka Town. For now, though, the worst that this can turn out is that we’re now just a matching set,” Erik offered as comfort. “It’s still in there though. So, that’s something.”

Rhys managed to let out a chuckle in response before groaning once more and shutting his eye. 

“Cito help get Rees back to other friends too,” the wild man proclaimed. “Cito strong enough to carry Rees.” 

Somehow, this earned another chuckle from Rhys. Erik gave a soft sigh, figuring his concussion must be bad if he was chuckling this freely around X6’s presence. 

“Thanks, Cito,” the Knight said. 

Erik grimaced a bit before patting Cito on the shoulder. 

“Think you can watch him for a bit, Cito? I need to stretch my legs.” He was answered with a nod before Cito went to take his seat as he himself stood up. 

Erik rubbed the back of his neck as he walked out to the balcony of the treehouse. Digging into his pocket, he took out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He took one out and stuck it into his mouth before lighting it. Inhaling deeply, he closed his eye as he could feel the nicotine entering his system before exhaling to let the smoke into the air. Hearing footsteps next to him, he looked over to see X6 stand beside him. He sighed, dropping his head down before lifting it back up to continue smoking. 

“Yes, Xander?” 

“Why do you trust Scribe Haylen?” 

The question gave him pause. He twiddled the cigarette in his fingers as he thought about his answer carefully. 

“Are you questioning why her due to her medical knowledge being useful for this situation or why I trust her over you when it comes to Song?” he settled on, deciding it’d be safer to ask first before actually answering. 

X6 remained still, but Erik could feel the eyes behind those sunglasses staring at him from the other’s stance. 

“I’ll answer the latter case,” Erik continued, figuring he wasn’t going to get an answer from the courser. “I trust her with Song because we’ve at least built a small friendship with each other, same with Danse and Rhys here, and trust her enough to give me advice when it comes to helping others heal. And I need that latter one more than ever.”


	27. The World of Refreshment: On The Roof

“Ow!” 

Song winced as Haylen tightly wrapped her arms in bandages, instinctively jerking her arm back. The scribed sighed, finishing up the wrapping for now before leaning to sit back. The group made camp on the rooftop of the bottling plant on the west end, giving them a good view of the other park zones back to Nuka-Town.Gage was out of the new power armor while the Paladin had tried to help hold Song still during Haylen’s attempt at treatment. Song kept her arms closed to her chest as she frowned at the ground, rubbing her wrapped forearm. 

“I don’t see the point in wrapping them…” she muttered. “They didn’t go away when Aunt Curie tried to apply ice to them.” 

“Compression is another method to help heal them and is also supposed to help reduce the pain from them,” Haylen explained. 

Gage poked at the makeshift campfire they had going. On top of a metal grate, they had placed a pot filled with mirelurk meat. The smell of meat clung to the air around them as the meat slowly was roasted to drive away the radiation. As he stirred the pot’s contents, the raider looked over to the three before sighing and sitting back. 

“Alright, start talking,” he said, sitting up as he directed his gaze more at Song. “About the bruises. What sort of accidents causes… those?” 

Song frowned as she looked away and began to fidget with her fingers. 

“They really are just from accidents-” 

“Song,” Haylen began. Her brows furrowed heavily as she went to reach for Song’s hand. 

“They are!” was the engineer’s response, flinching away from the scribe’s hand and further into Danse’s hold. “Father’s just… he’s just really rough when he has to get me to my room. He’s… been rather forgetful the past year or so-” 

“Bullshit,” Gage snarled. “How long has that been going on-?!” 

Song glared at him, her fists clenching before Danse cleared his throat. 

“... The Institute supplies you with your own room?” he asked. 

Song’s expression softened as she looked down. Biting her lower lip, she tried to ignore the warmth spreading over her face upon feeling the Paladin’s eyes on her again. She lowered her hands, placing them in her laps with slight wincing at the pain that went up her arms. Subconsciously, she rubbed where the wound from the mirelurk king from earlier had previously been. 

“Sort of?” she answered. “I mean, it’s where I’m taken to whenever I disobey and it is where my bed is. Oh, and I have a few things I’ve made from tinkering while waiting in there!” 

Towards the end, she seemed rather cheerful thinking back to the mentioned room. A smile found its way onto her face as she went on to talk about the items in her room. 

“I also had three books in there! They were fairy-tales though…”

“What kind of fairy tales?”

“Focus. We’re getting off-topic.” Danse gave a pointed look to Gage. 

“Song, how long would you be in your room?” Haylen asked softly. Her eyes were pinned on the other’s face as she watched her smile slowly vanish. 

“... Depends, really. After Doctor Zimmer disappeared, they’re been getting longer. It’s not unusual for me to be in my room for weeks until I was fetched for a memory wipe.” Once more, Song fidgeted with her fingers, frowning as she thought more on the circumstances. “Usually it’s Doctor Ayo who retrieves me, but more often Liam will open the door and I can avoid the wipes.” 

“Hold the fuck up,” Gage began as his eyes narrowed. “This Father guy would just leave you in there? Alone? For weeks? What about food? Water? Fucking shit, it's clear enough he didn’t give you medical attention for the bruises he caused for you! What the actual shit?” 

“Gage” Danse began to warn the raider, noticing the tension in Song’s shoulders underneath his hands.

“No, I’m goddamn serious!” the one-eyed man shouted. “I might not have had the best childhood but even the spineless cowards that were my parents would have never just forgotten me like that!” Gage was now standing, Song flinching under his gaze as Haylen went over to pull her into a hug. 

“Gage, sit down,” Danse commanded, keeping his eyes on the raider. Gage breathed heavily as he stared back before looking at the women, the taller redhead clinging to the scribe with trembling shoulders. He frowned before he sat back down, running a hand through his hair. 

“Now… S0,” Danse went on to say as he turned his attention to Song. “Does Erik know about any of this?” 

She nodded, facing away from the paladin as her voice cracked. 

“Yeah. He had Aunt Curie look at me and then he had Deacon bring his own doctor friend to look at the bruises.” 

He took in a deep breath, thinking back to the group at the Red Rocket. Thinking back on them, he wondered if really all of them knew, or if just a selected few. He was sure Cait was at least in those numbers though if the brawler having gone to comfort her after X6’s news was anything to go by. 

“You said Curie tried to help with ice therapy. What did Deacon’s… friend do?” he continued, trying his best to keep his voice low in his questioning. 

“... He was a bit more concerned about making sure I’d be ready enough for my operation.” Her voice was almost in a whisper. “But he seemed almost… mad about them?” 

Silence fell over the group, Haylen lightly patting Song’s back as Gage continued to mindlessly stir the pot. Danse’s eyes remained on the synth as she looked towards the fire, her eyes scrunched up as she continued to cling to Haylen. 

“... This … Doctor Zimmer… You said he disappeared?” Haylen began softly. 

Song huffed, her eyes closing tightly. 

“About… a decade ago. Doctor Ayo is currently acting director of the Synth Retention Bureau while he’s gone. He always called synths ‘Androids.’ He… also was the one who came up with the experiment that resulted in me. I guess in a way, you could say he’s my other parent?” Song moved away from Haylen’s hold, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. 

“Do you miss him?” Haylen continued. 

“Hell no,” Song sneered. “That man… When I said I’ve had memory wipes, I mean that Doctor Zimmer decided since the DNA cloning experiment failed, I could at least be the ideal subject to seeing how wiping away just certain memories would work. While he was at the Institute, every time I disobeyed and was placed in my room, I’d retrieve and be subjected to those.” 

She frowned further, moving to rub her shoulders. 

“I definitely don’t miss him.” 

“Who’s Liam?” Gage went on to ask. He lifted his eyes to try and meet hers, only to see her still staring at the fire. 

“The youngest scientist at the Institute. There are a few kids there, naturally, but Liam’s the eldest. He’s… about sixteen now, seventeen by this year’s end.” There was a much softer smile on her face. “He was born just a few years after I was created.” 

Gage poked at the food, unsatisfied with how long it was taking for it to cook.

“Earlier with the tunnels, you mention Coursers being honest. If they’re not programmed that way, is there… something in their training that causes that?” he asked. Upon receiving a look from Haylen he held his hands up. “I’m working with a group that has a courser, I might as well know what the hell I’m working with.” 

“I don’t actually know,” Song admitted as she finally looked up. “I think it’s something in the courser chip itself but I honestly have no idea. Coursers just… are usually honest. The ones that don’t tend to be the ones that escape.” 

Danse’s brows shot up, his head snapping back to look at the Minutemen member. 

“How often is that?” he asked, unsure if he actually wanted the answer or not. But the need to know was much more powerful in his gut. 

“Not too often, actually. I think there’s only been… four? Five? Within the past twenty years? Honestly, it’s more common for those that failed their training to escape.” 

Haylen tilted her head as she narrowed her eyes. 

“Why is that?” 

Song paused, her face scrunching up as she thought about her answer. She looked up to the sky as she pondered, watching the dark clouds hide away the stars that gleamed back. 

“As I said, they usually fail for the smallest amount of reasons… A courser that feels compassion wouldn’t be a good courser, after all… but between the intense training that goes on for them plus other traits that caused them to fail? It’s not surprising, really,” she explained. “It’s like… a human’s breaking point in a way. Only so much one can go through before they just… can’t.” 

Danse watched as she continued to look up at the sky. His brows furrowed before adjusting his position to look at the campfire. He thought over the information revealed, from the origin of the bruises to the new information on how the coursers worked. Before he could think about the possible ways to use this to better combat at the very least, the pot was set ablaze. 

“Ah! Gage! What the hell!?” 

“I thought Mirelurk wasn’t flammable!?” 


	28. Catch Up

“Alright… clearly we have a lot of shit to talk about,” Gage said as he watched Haylen inspect Rhys’s wounds. 

The Knight hissed in discomfort at her light touches on the deep scarring around his eye. While he’d been lucky enough to still retain the sight in his eye, Haylen ended up having to still clean up the scarring. Erik was by all means no medic by nature. Cito on the other hand seemed at least to be an interested listener and observer to the medical attention. His dark eyes watched Haylen’s hands dab and treat the claw marks that ran over Rhys’s face. 

“Well, first, let’s deal with introductions?” Song suggested, her smile rather tight as she held her hand out to Cito. “Hi there, I’m Song! That’s Gage, Danse, and Haylen.” 

Cito looked at her, having to crane his head up due to his sitting position. 

“Song? Like bird?” 

Rhys’s expression twisted in an attempt to keep a straight face as the barest amount of snickering left him. Song’s face on the other hand tightened, the smile still there but far more forced at the comparison. 

“Yeah… like the bird,” she said as she slowly retreated her hand away from Cito.

“We came across Cito when he was fighting one of what turned out to be numerous Gatorclaws in the Safari Adventure zone,” X6 explained as he stood by the door. “We also found a cloning machine that had been producing them. A pre-war scientist that had survived the war made them in an attempt to protect that area of the park. Currently, it is shut off.”

Rhys let out a hiss as Haylen continued to dab the fresh scars with a soaked cotton ball. Erik sat in the corner, watching the scene for a moment before stretching out an arm as Song backed towards him with a few holotapes. She smiled as she went to hand them to the General, only to stop as he held onto her hand, looking at her sleeves. He raised a brow before she pulled away and crossed her arms while pouting. 

“Yeah, Valentine here and I were about to get into an argument over if the Brotherhood or Minutemen get it and I fully say the Brotherhood should be having that type of tech-” Rhys said, hissing again as Haylen finished up. 

“Actually, it seemed like there shouldn’t be too many arguments on the topic. There was a second, rather damaged one. If it were to be repaired-” 

“Stay out of this, courser,” the Knight spat as he sent a glare towards X6. 

“Speaking of tech, we found that power armor in the bottling plant,” Gage said as he jerked his head towards the red and silver set that now was by Erik’s. “Probably should head back at some point to search some more now that we cleared all the mirelurks out. There are some broken bots inside too. We had to battle a ‘lurk queen on the outside and one of the kings got a swing on Song there.” 

Erik could fully feel eyes on him as he continued to look at Song. The tip of her ears seemed to turn red as she continued to look away, obviously embarrassed. He took in a deep breath, running a hand down his face before looking to face Danse’s, Haylen’s, and Gage’s stares. 

“Did Song here tell you or-” 

“Sort of,” Haylen interrupted. “I had to administer a stimpak to her and applied further compression therapy when we set up camp.” 

“Cito confused.” 

“The ape-man speaks for the rest of us,” Rhys nodded. Gage raised a brow as X6 nodded as well. 

“I have bruises from accidents...” Song began before flinching as Gage gave a loud yell. 

“They’re not accidents if he doesn’t do anything to help treat them!” the raider yelled. “I thought we went over this last night!” 

“Technically-” Danse began before Rhys interrupted. 

“Why are we caring that one of the Institute’s techs has physical bruises? We know the Institute abuses its use of technology by creating synths, to begin with. If anything, this just proves why we should be trying to fight the Institute and getting rid of these freaks quicker to make sure we don’t have this discussion.” 

Everyone slowly turned their heads at Rhys. X6 lifted a finger up, his mouth opened and ready to speak. However, it seems what the knight had said left him at a loss for words as he lowered his hand back down. Cito physically tilted his head while Erik slowly began to double facepalm. 

“Knight Rhys… did you just… did you just say that the best way to solve abuse is to destroy the victims of abuse alongside their abusers?” Song asked, taking a step back as she eyed Rhys warily. 

“I mean… in a way that… is sort of a solution. Not a good one. But it’s a solution,” Gage said slowly.

“There is so much to unpack there,” Erik muttered before taking in another deep breath. “Rhys, you remember that compliment I gave you yesterday?” 

“Yes?” 

“I’d like to take it back now.” 

“You gave Rhys a compliment?” Danse asked, raising a brow. 

“Cito now more confused,” said man stated loudly as he raised a hand up.

“They can explain it to you, Cito,” Song sighed while rubbing her forehead. She turned and headed to the door that led to the inside of the building. “In the meantime, I’m going to be working on replacing the stimpaks Grandpa’s team had no doubt used to help the Knight through his wounds.” 

Erik flinched slightly as she slammed the door behind her before looking down at his knees. 

“I’d like to point out none of that was what I meant,” Rhys huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest and laid back in the chair he was in. 

Cito looked around the group, still clearly confused. Danse stepped up to explain. 

“To make a long story short, S0-” 

“Danse, out of all people to explain this to Cito, you really shouldn’t be one of them,” Erik pointed out. “Cito, Song is… like Xander. But Song is also my family. Alright?” 

Cito remained silent for a moment before slowly nodding. His brows were still furrowed, but he held a half-hearted smile on her smile. Danse in the meantime sent a short glare over at Erik as the man stood up. 

“Speaking of Cito here, what’s exactly the plan you had in mind? I doubt you brought him here over with you all just to help Rhys, as much as that’s appreciated.” Danse went on to approach the map in the center of the room. 

“Cito here is a good kid. With a really big hammer,” Erik chuckled before putting on a serious face. “Honestly, I figured with the plan of taking Gage with us, Cito could help you all out with those bloodworms in Dry Gulch. If he wants to, that is.” The one-eyed man offered a softer smile towards the ape-man. 

“What you say, Cito? Think you’ll help Danse, Haylen, and Song with some worms?”

Cito nodded again, this time far more eagerly. 

“Friends help Cito’s family. Cito now friends and friend’s family.” 

“I wish you luck with that pain in the ass, Paladin,” Gage muttered as he went to get a drink. 

“Cito not doctor. Maybe after fight with worms, we find doctor for ass pain?” 

Erik slammed his head onto the table as he began to cackle as he watched Gage slowly turn to glare at Cito. 

“I think it’ll also be rather good for Cito to have some help on his vocabulary,” Haylen mentioned, slightly covering her mouth to avoid laughing. 

“Hey, by the way, Haylen, Gage, Danse?” 

The three turned to look at Erik with raised brows. Gage cracked open a beer with a huff, already beginning to sneer at whatever he was thinking the dark-haired man to say.

“Thanks.” 

Gage blinked in confusion before looking to the Scribe and Paladin. Haylen held a much more sincere expression as she looked slightly away with her eyes scrunched up. Danse’s brows on the other hand shot up before softening and he stood back up to his full height. 

“You trusted us with her and she’s been a rather valuable asset for our team. You know it’s part of my duty as a paladin to keep my team together,” he said. 

The corner of Erik’s mouth twitched up into a smirk before he sighed and leaned back in his seat. 

“Still. Thank you.” 


End file.
